


Sudden Reality

by epicashleyftw



Category: Septiplier - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF, Youtube RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Video Game World, Best Friends, Bromance, Darkiplier - Freeform, Fluff, Gen, Mild Blood, Mystery, No Smut, POV Multiple, Platonic Septiplier, Rogue AI, Slow Burn, Survival Horror, This is going to be a long fic, YouTubers - Freeform, antisepticeye, platonic, scary stuff, vr games
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-09-15 03:35:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 67,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9216809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/epicashleyftw/pseuds/epicashleyftw
Summary: --------------------------------------------------------------Thurs at 11:35pm, Cal  wrote:Sean, do not worry. We know your preparations for your trip to Los Angeles have taken up much of your time. We are in no hurry.Cal--------------------------------------------------------------Jack shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I mean, it’s no secret that I’m flying to LA again, but…" Jack shook it off. He’s gotten worse messages than this, with much worse grammar. This guy just wants to show him a game, there’s nothing wrong with that.Until it isn’t.





	1. Chapter 1

“SHIT no! I missed it!”

 

“HA eat dicks!”

 

“Ooh oh cmon orange GET IT.”

 

“No no, fuckin’ car, get _off_ the _wall!_ ”

 

“Go orange, go! Yeeeeesss–”

 

“No no– FUCK IT!”

 

“YEEEAHHH get wrecked Jack! RIGHT at the buzzer!”

 

“You can’t cheer for that, you didn’t even do anything!”

 

“I did _something_ , I looked at it at least!”

 

He heard him groan through his headphones, but you could definitely tell he was holding back laughter. “Goddamnit Mark, that’s the fourth game in a row.”

 

Mark grinned, feeling just a little smug. He and his favorite Irishman were finally playing a game together after a long while, just the two of them. “They’ll have to start calling me the King of Rocket League now.”

 

He could almost feel Jack rolling his eyes, but he still chuckled. “Whatever, scrublord.”

 

Mark laughed. “Ah man, that was fun though. I missed this game, it’s so cool.”

 

“Yeah! It’s been a while, we need to do this more often.”

 

Mark set his controller down, a big goofy grin on his face. He loved playing games with Jack. It was always entertaining to hear that Irish accent scream in his ears. “Don’t worry, we’ll totally do this again. Maybe next time you can nut up and be on my team.”

 

“No way, I’m gonna totally kick yer arse!” Jack laughed.

 

”Yeh mate, come kick mah arse,” Mark replied in his the worst Irish accent he could make, which only made Jack giggle. “Oh, by the way,” Mark almost forgot he was recording and directed his eyes to the camera lens in front of him. “Thank you everybody so much for watching, thank you Jack for being here with me.”

 

“No problem, buddy!” Jack cheered in his ears.

 

“Thanks again, and as always, I’ll see YOU in the next video. BUH BYE!” Mark waved with his signature smile, hearing Jack chime in with him for his outro. After a few seconds he hit a couple buttons on his keyboard that stopped his recording software, leaned back in his chair and sighed, running his fingers through his red hair. He could hear Jack typing quietly through his headphones.

 

“Let me video chat you, hold on,” Mark said, pulling up Skype on his computer. Jack hummed in acknowledgment, still typing. A moment later, Jack’s face popped up, his green hair peeking below his classic snapback and headphones resting over it. Mark couldn’t help but smile at his friend, a spark of excitement filling him. In just a few days Jack would be visiting LA again. He was there for VidCon but unfortunately didn’t get to see much of each other, which was mostly Mark’s fault. They planned on making videos together in person, hang out with the gang, maybe do a couple challenge videos with Matthias. But between The Grumps, VidCon itself, and Mark’s stupid busy schedule most of that just didn’t happen. So he talked Jack into flying out again, which honestly wasn’t very difficult.

 

They both had been busy stocking up on videos in preparation for the trip, which was a lot easier when you’re playing with a friend. They had already recorded more Prop Hunt and Dead by Daylight with Bob and Wade the other day and decided to revisit a few other games they hadn’t played in over a year. Jack planned on visiting for almost two weeks this time, which meant video overhaul. But even then, having the ability to do cool things like this all the time with his favorite people was just a constant reminder to the both of them of why they loved their jobs so much.

 

Jack finished what he was typing, made a few clicks with his mouse, then directed his attention to his camera. His face lit up seeing Mark on his screen and gave a little wave. “Sup, buddy! I’ll get ya my facecam in a few hours so you can start editin’.”

 

“Awesome. No rush, I think I’m finally getting ahead of my video schedule a little bit. So, what plans do you have for the rest of the night?” Even though it was 3pm in Los Angeles it was almost 11pm over in Ireland, but he knew Jack never slept.

 

He shrugged in response. “Well after I get my cam cleaned up and uploadin’ to ya I’ll probably do my usual and stalk tumblr. Maybe get a few runs of Overwatch in. You?” Jack asked. Mark noticed something off screen caught Jack’s eye and he started typing again.

 

Mark sat up and stretched. “I need to take Chica out for a walk, then probably start putting together a reading comments video.” Jack glanced to the camera and gave Mark a look, who then rolled his eyes. “Yeah yeah I know, stop it, I know. It’s been forever but I need to do _something_. I don’t know how you keep up with 100 reading comments videos and I can’t even stick to a simple schedule.” Jack chuckled and resumed typing. Finally, he clicked around once again then resumed his attention back to the Skype chat, noticing Mark’s confused stare. Jack sighed.

 

“Sorry, this guy has been emailin’ me repeatedly ‘bout a game he wants me ta try. He’s relentless.” Jack clicked around some more, then relaxed back in his chair.

 

“Well why don’t you ignore it?” Mark asked, resting his chin on his hand.

 

“I was, but, I dunno,” Jack shrugged. “Well, turns out the guy is a freakin’ developer for some VR game, and he has this new survival adventure thing and he really wants me to try it out. But fuck, dude, I’ve been so busy the past couple weeks. So many thumbnails...”

 

Mark smiled and nodded, completely understanding the struggle. Being on double recording duty takes a lot out of you. “What time do you fly in Sunday?” It didn’t look like it on the outside, but Mark was just getting more and more excited. They had a lot planned.

 

“Uhh I think my flight lands in LA around 2:30pm your time,” Jack shared, checking his phone for confirmation. “Fuckin’ long ass flights… 15 hours! All just to come to California, as far away from Ireland as you could get.” He covered his face with his hands and sighed dramatically.

 

Mark smirked at him through the screen. “Move to LA already ya dingus. All the cool kids are here.”

 

Jack dropped his hands and smiled sadly at him. “Trust me, it’s startin’ to become more and more appealin’...”

 

Mark sat up and stretched, absently brushing back his red floof and said, “Well, just to convince you more how amazingly cool LA is, The Grumps plan on taking you out to dinner when you get in so don’t get too jet lagged.”

 

Jack’s face lit up considerably at the news. “You comin’ too?”

 

Putting his arms back down, Mark smirked at him and said, “Well duh.” The smile on Jack’s face was so big it was contagious. He was nearly bouncing in his seat with excitement. “I’ll pick you up when you fly in, too, so don’t worry.”

 

“Great! I’m so excited ta see everybody again.” Jack glanced over at his other screen and Mark couldn’t help but notice his expression falter a little bit.

 

“You okay?”

 

Jack scowled. “Yeah, this guy just emailed me again. Christ, man.”

 

“Ignore him dude, you’ve got enough to worry about right now.” Jack nodded in agreement and closed the window altogether. Sighing, he took off his hat and leaned back in his chair again, watching his friend.

 

Mark picked up his phone and realized they’ve been talking for nearly an hour already. “Ah shit, I gotta go. I still gotta walk Chica and Tyler has an idea he wants to try for dinner tonight. They’re stoked to see you, by the way.” Jack smiled at that.

 

“Awesome.” Jack sat up and gave a little wave. “Go walk yer dog. It was nice gettin’ my ass kicked by you again, Mr. Iplier.”

  
Smirking, Mark replied, “Anytime, Jackaboy. Always a pleasure.” He gave him one last smile with a little wave in return and bid him goodnight. After ending the call, Mark stood to go find some pants.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is gonna be fun! 
> 
> Fun Fact #1: The idea for this fic was from a dream I had. I won't explain what the dream is yet cause SPOILERS but that was the original inspiration :P
> 
> Fun Fact #2: I've been writing this fic off and on for about 10 months. Recently I decided to start posting it cause it's been a lot of fun to write and my friends are obsessed with it. Wanted to share it with the internet! 
> 
>  
> 
> Please let me know what you think! I love all critiques!


	2. Chapter 2

Jack closed out of Skype and leaned back in his chair. Mark always put him in a good mood. He just felt _awesome_ right now, despite how worn out he felt from recording all day. He hadn’t laughed that hard for a while. Jack grinned to himself before pulling up his editing software to prepare his facecam footage to send over to Mark. He hesitated, thinking, then grudgingly caved and reopened his email instead. Sure enough, a new email popped up on his screen. It was from Cal.

 

The emails from this guy were very brief, but persistent. Annoyingly persistent. Normally Jack ignores stuff like this but something just...tugged at him.

  


_Mon at 9:42am, Cal <[e-mail address removed]> wrote: _

 

_Hello Sean. My name is Cal, I’m a new developer for a company called Broga Entertainment. We have a new exciting VR game coming out that we think you might enjoy. Let me know if you’re interested._

 

_Cal_

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

_Tues at 8:25am, Cal <[e-mail address removed]> wrote: _

 

_Sean, did I mention that we're offering you this game for absolutely free? We’re very confident that you’ll get a very worthwhile experience from it._

 

_Let me know._

 

_Cal_

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

_Wed at 1:03pm, Cal <[e-mail address removed]> wrote: _

 

_Sean, we have noticed that you play quite a few survival games on your channel. We believe this game offers that and so, so much more. I promise this experience will change your life._

 

_Depending on your point of view._

 

_Cal_

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

_Thurs at 9:45pm, Cal <[e-mail address removed]> wrote: _

 

_Sean, it seems you’re always on the lookout for the next exciting playthrough. Our developers from Broga Entertainment have created a game so in-depth that it should simulate a very, very real experience._

 

_Let me know._

 

_Cal_

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

_Thurs at 10:42pm, Cal <[e-mail address removed]> wrote: _

 

_Sean, I hope I can find a way to convince you to give this a try. This game will impact you in every way possible._

 

_Cal_

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

**Thurs at 10:55pm, Jack SepticEye <Jacksepticeye@gmail.com> wrote:**

 

**Hi Cal! I got all your previous emails, thanks so much for thinking of me for your new game. I haven’t heard of Broga Entertainment before, is that an indie company?**

 

**\- Jack**

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

_Thurs at 10:58pm, Cal <[e-mail address removed]> wrote: _

 

_Sean, thank you so much for responding. The company isn’t important, our main focus is our new VR experience and we believe you would be the perfect candidate to test. We know you would give it a thorough playthrough and we would really appreciate your feedback._

 

_Cal_

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

  
  


Jack read the latest email, biting his thumb in thought. It wouldn’t hurt to try it... but why does he care in the first place? He didn’t know. He didn’t have time to anyway. Finally, he shook his head and hit reply.

  


\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

**Thurs at 11:15pm, Jack SepticEye <Jacksepticeye@gmail.com> wrote:**

 

**You’re rather persistent aren’t you, Cal? Well, what’s the name of the game and what platform is it available on?**

 

**\- Jack**

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

He hit send, glad to be done with that and brought up his cam files in Premiere. But as soon as the footage loaded into the program, his email pinged. Jack squinted his eyes at the screen. Who the hell is this guy…

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

_Thurs at 11:18pm, Cal <[e-mail address removed]> wrote: _

 

_Sean, the game is called Sudden Reality. It is PC based, and compatible with your new Oculus Rift Touch._

 

_We think you’ll like it._

 

_Cal_

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

Jack’s eyes glanced over to the unopened box on the floor next to his desk. He only JUST shared on Instagram that he finally got it. The Touch was wireless with hand controls similar to the Vive, which he was admittedly super excited about. It also advertised the same room-scale mechanic that the Vive operates with. The original Rift was supposed to come with the controls in the first place, and for them to finally throw in a wireless version with room-scale capability was a big step up above the Vive. Even so...this guy started emailing him days before… whatever, he guessed that it was common knowledge that he was getting one sometime soon anyway ever since the company said they would be sending out the first shipments to some select gamers. It was probably just a weird coincidence.

 

After absently clicking around in Premiere for a bit, he finally hit reply.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

**Thurs at 11:34pm, Jack SepticEye <Jacksepticeye@gmail.com> wrote:**

 

**That sounds very interesting. Unfortunately, I have been very busy lately and don’t really have the time to try out a new game.**

 

**\- Jack**

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

He barely got a chance to even look at his other screen before another update popped up. _Fer fucks sake..._

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

_Thurs at 11:35pm, Cal <[e-mail address removed]> wrote: _

 

_Sean, do not worry. We know your preparations for your trip to Los Angeles have taken up much of your time. We are in no hurry._

 

_Cal_

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

Jack shifted uncomfortably in his seat. _I mean, it’s no secret that I’m flying to LA again, but…_ Jack shook it off. He’s gotten worse messages than this, with much worse grammar. This guy just wants to show him a game, there’s nothing wrong with that.

 

Before he could think of a proper response, another email popped up.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

_Thurs at 11:38pm, Cal <[e-mail address removed]> wrote: _

 

_Sean, we have a suggestion. Bring your Oculus Rift Touch with you to Los Angeles. Sudden Reality offers the option to play cooperatively. I’m sure Mr. Fischbach and yourself will have an entertaining experience._

 

_Cal_

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

 

Jack stared at that last email for longer than he expected. _Did Mark get one too…? He never mentioned it…_ He felt weirded out by how much detail this guy knew about his trip, but shook it off. It’s not like they didn’t already share their plans to their subscribers, so of course this guy would know.

 

And to be honest...cooperative VR games…? That fell right into his palate of interests. He shook his head and typed back a short “Thanks, I’ll consider playing it in the future.” to Cal and hit send. Immediately a link to download the game was sent back.

 

Jack navigated to the webpage. It seemed like a generic “hey look at this game, now download it!” type page. The link was, surprisingly, under an HTTPS URL, which generally means it’s safe. So far so good.

 

For now though, Jack closed the window and went back to rendering his cam footage from earlier. It’s not like he had any time to play it, and he wouldn’t for a while. He was just glad this Cal dude had finally stopped emailing him.

 

As he clicked around on his PC, his mind wandered to his trip, thinking of the California sun, the busy city, but more importantly, his friends. Jack smiled. No matter how many times he flew to America, even the 15 hours to Los Angeles, he had such an amazing experience. The more he visited, the harder it was to leave.

 

Jack was stoked to play some games with Mark though, in person. The dynamic was just different when you can physically interact with someone on a couch versus only hearing them over your headphones. _Not to mention the fans are going to probably implode_ , Jack chuckled to himself. It’s gonna be fun.

  
He wrapped up his file, set it to export then glanced at his phone. It was nearly midnight. He stood up and stretched, thinking it was about time to switch gears and take a little break from editing. Jack hung his headphones on his wall hook and headed downstairs.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OoOooOo ominous~


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't care what Mark does IRL, in this world he still has red hair.

Jack sat in the far corner of the terminal, hood up and music blasting, clutching a gigantic cup of drip coffee from one of the stands. He stared ahead absently, willing himself to wake up long enough to board the plane, then he can pass out again. He glanced up at the screen above his gate. Ten more minutes. He sighed. It was only 7am but he hadn’t gone to bed until 2am and had to wake back up three hours later. He spent so long making sure everything had uploaded well and was scheduled properly, double and triple checking, that he completely forgot to pack. It was a mad rush to finish that task just to make it to bed to get a few hours of snooze time.

 

His phone buzzed with a Skype message from Mark.  
“ _Have a safe flight! See you tomorrow. I’m gonna go SLEEP :D_ ”

Jack glared at the screen. He typed back “Thanks” with about ten middle finger emojis. It was 11pm in LA, yesterday, which made sense for Mark to go to bed but Jack still grumbled. He’s normally sound asleep at this hour. While everyone else around him functioned like normal humans, he felt like a baggy eyed zombie, which was honestly exactly what he was. He couldn’t wait to get on the plane and pass out.

 

“Now boarding: British Airways flight 833 to London, all rows.”

 

Jack looked up when he noticed people standing and collecting their things, barely hearing the automated announcement over his music. Thank God. He grabbed his backpack and shuffled toward the gate.

  
  


* * *

  
  


Jack stared down at his phone. On the screen was a photo of a man holding up a box.

 

 _“Look what I got in the mail today!_ ”

 

Mark had posted a selfie with his new Oculus Rift Touch to his Instagram. Normally Jack would be stoked for him, but he was reminded of those emails from Cal and felt a weird vibe about it. He looked down at his suitcase, where his own Touch was stored, protected amongst his clothes. It was a last minute decision, but he stuffed the box inside right before he left the house on the principle of “better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.”

 

He never asked Mark about whether or not he had his, just assumed he did based off of Cal’s email. So it was a surprise to see that Mark only just now received it, which made Jack wonder how Cal knew…

 

His phone buzzed. “ _Nearly there!_ ”

 

Jack was sitting outside LAX, holding his backpack and suitcase between his legs and watching taxi after taxi arrive and take off while desperately trying to ignore how bloody hot it was. But at least it was sunny. Lord knows he doesn’t get enough of it at home. He offered to take a taxi to Mark’s house but Mark insisted on picking him up, even though he was super late. He managed to connect to the shitty airport wifi so he could check for a few messages and notifications. Now that he was in the States, his phone was practically useless. Par for the course when travelling outside of Europe.

 

He didn’t mind though, he ran into a few fans while waiting for his luggage which always brightens his mood. He actually had the chance to talk to them for a few minutes and take some fun photos without rushing, like he’s normally forced to do at conventions. Plus it passed the time when waiting for Mark.

 

Jack bounced in his seat, drumming his fingers on his knees impatiently, very glad he brought shorts to change into. He learned the hard way last time. The flight captain said it was a toasty 95 degrees when they landed. Jack calculated out to be about 35 Celsius, which for an Irishman is fucking hot. It rarely rose above 20C back home, which came out to be in the 60s for Fahrenheit. Stupid Americans, join the rest of the world already, this is bloody confusing...

 

Now that he was finally in Los Angeles though, he could hardly contain his energy. He just wanted to _go_ , he wanted to do all the things _now_ , where the fuck was--

 

A honk startled him, followed by a loud “HEY IRISH BOY! GET YER WHITE ARSE OVER HERE, FER FOOKS SAKE!” Jack immediately laughed upon seeing Mark waving his arms from the driver’s side of his blue hybrid. Ignoring the glares from other travelers, Jack rushed to Mark’s car, throwing his suitcase and backpack in the trunk and jumping into the passenger side as quickly as possible, ignoring how weird it was to be on the right side and NOT be driving.

 

“Could ya be more loud and obnoxious next time? I think an old woman cussed me out as I walked by,” Jack laughed, putting on his seatbelt while Mark fought his way out of the airport. He quickly faced every AC vent on his side into his face, sighing happily at the cool air. LA was hot as balls, but air conditioning was thankfully plentiful.

 

“I could, but aren’t _you_ supposed to be the most obnoxious one here?” Mark grinned in Jack’s direction before turning his attention back to the road.

 

“Touché.” Jack smiled, studying Mark. In person you really noticed the black roots showing underneath his red hair, but the color managed to stay as vibrant as ever. He looked tired, but he was happy. In fact Mark hadn’t stopped smiling the moment Jack entered his car.

 

“Welcome back to the States!” Mark cheered enthusiastically.

 

Jack laughed. “It’s good ta be back. One of these days you need ta fly ta Ireland fer a change.”

 

“But all the cool stuff is heeere! Besides, I’d probably freeze. Or drown in the rain. Or both.” Mark pointed out, pulling onto the freeway and finally escaping the LAX traffic hell.

 

Jack nodded. “Probably both. I’ll buy you a snorkel and a snow jacket when you do come.” Mark laughed at that.

 

Jack stared out the window, taking in the California scenery. As touristy as it was, he never got enough of the palm trees. It was a whole different world on this side of the earth. It was also a lot drier and smoggier. The skies were clear and very blue, not a cloud in sight, and the city stretched on forever. The only green you saw were buildings or palm tree fronds, an incredible contrast to Ireland.

 

They never stopped talking since they left the airport. Mark told Jack that he was doing his morning recording schedule when he came downstairs to a fresh, smelly present from Chica on the kitchen floor. Jack couldn’t help but laugh at his misery, especially at the part when Chica tried to play with him as he cleaned it up and Mark dropped it all over again.

 

Jack shared his hell of an experience during his layover in London. They were stuck on the plane for almost half an hour before he finally was able to get off and head to his connecting flight. He, of course, was on the complete opposite side of the airport from where he needed to be and had to literally run in order to get there on time. He had snuggled up to his window, hoodie low over his eyes and his sound cancelling headphones beautifully blocking out the noisy cabin. Jack was out before they even hit altitude.

 

“Oh! I don’t know if you saw but I got that new Oculus Rift in the mail today. It’s the new wireless one with the hand grabbies? Anyway, I didn’t even know they were sending me one, I never jumped on the bandwagon when the consumer version of the first one came out,” Mark explained while looking around to switch lanes, veering into the freeway exit.

 

Jack smiled at him. “Yeah I saw you posted it. We gotta try it out while I’m here, see how it compares. I love that it’s wireless.”

 

“Considering I constantly trip over my own cord when playing the Vive, yeah, wireless sounds fucking _amazing_.”

 

Jack chuckled. “Yeah, I hear ya.” Mark then talked about their dinner plans with The Grumps and where they planned on eating. The mention of real food made Jack’s stomach growl, realizing he hadn’t had anything proper to eat since the sandwich he had on the plane. Dinner couldn’t come soon enough.

 

As they drove through the suburbs, Jack thought about the emails from last week, wondering if he should bring it up and see what Mark thought of the whole situation. Especially finding out that Mark got his new Rift today. Should they try it? Maybe Mark would find it too sketchy and wouldn’t want to risk it. But as he opened his mouth to speak they were finally pulling into Mark’s driveway, so he decided to drop it. It wasn’t that important.

 

As Jack was grabbing his suitcase and backpack out of the trunk, he heard the jingle of a collar behind him. Smiling, he turned around to greet the fluffball but instead was met with a set of skinny white arms grabbing him and lifting him into the air. Jack yelped but it quickly turned into laughter when realizing who exactly was manhandling him.

 

“JACKABOY!!” Matt yelled, spinning around in a circle with Jack in his arms, luggage abandoned.

 

“FUCKING FINALLY.” Ryan came running out the front door and glomped Jack’s backside in a bear hug. Chica bounded around them in circles, barking at the weird men.

 

“Jesus, I don’t think I’ve ever been welcomed so enthusiastically.” Jack strained his head in Mark’s direction, who was grabbing Jack’s luggage off the ground. “I think they’re more excited to see me than _you_ are, Mark!”

 

Mark smirked over his shoulder as he headed to the front door, Jack’s backpack over his shoulder and suitcase rolling behind him. “Whatever, you were mine first. Punch him in the dick, Ryan!”

 

Jack yelled and squirmed as Ryan tried to reach around his frontside, eventually escaping Matt’s grasp and covering his groin, laughing the whole time. You could hear Mark’s laughter from all the way in the house. “You both molested my ass once already, I don’t need dick touches!”

 

“But you like dick touches!” Matt whined.

 

“Not from you!” Jack ran into the house behind Mark. “This is not how you welcome an Irishman to America!”

 

“Don’t you know? It’s customary to fondle every foreigner who crosses our border,” Matt explained smugly, following close behind.

 

“Except Mexicans, there’s too many of them here,” Ryan added, bringing Chica back into the house and closing the door.

 

Jack giggled and facepalmed, muttering “Jesus Christ…” at the racist joke.

 

After Mark dropped Jack’s luggage next to the stairs, the group wandered into the kitchen where Mark was getting a glass of water. He handed one to Jack, who thanked him graciously, and poured one for himself. He turned his attention to Matt and Ryan, pulling his phone out to send a text. “So what are you guys doing here? I thought you were with The Grumps? We aren’t heading out for another few hours.”

 

Jack looked a the pair, surprised. “You guys are comin’ ta dinner, too?”

 

Ryan nodded and slung his arm around Jack’s shoulders and squeezed. “We wanted to hang out with Jack! We haven’t seen him in forever!” he said, answering Mark’s question.

 

Jack sipped his water. “I saw you like two months ago, ya doof.”

 

“Yeah! Forever!”

 

Jack laughed. “Where’s Tyler and Ethan?”

 

Mark shrugged. “No idea, I just texted them and asked why they weren’t here to welcome our guest with food and riches, the bastards.” Mark smirked, looking at his phone. “But I’m sure they’ll be home tonight.”

 

Jack chuckled. Chica nudged his hand with her nose and Jack immediately set his water down to crouch and pet her properly. “Heyyy Chica-bica! I missed you!” She started to lick his face, her tail wagging fiercely, and Jack fell on his butt giggling while she climbed all over him panting happily. Mark smiled at the two.

 

“Man, she really did miss you. I should have had you come over last time just to play with her.” He downed the rest of his water and set the glass in the sink. “Well, do you guys want to play some Mario Kart or Smash Bros while we wait for food?”

 

“Oh _fuck_ yeah!” Ryan cheered and ran into the living room, snatching a Wii remote from the side table.

 

“So how was your flight?” Matt asked Jack after he got up and brushed the dog hair off his clothes.

 

“Fuckin’ long, but that’s normal. I slept through ‘bout half of it. I’m starvin’ though, airplane sandwiches aren’t very fillin’.” Behind him Mark picked up an apple and a bag of chips and headed to the living room, handing the apple to Jack as he walked by. Jack couldn’t help but chuckle. “I think I’ll survive until then, though.” He grabbed his water and followed Matt into the living room.

 

Jack took a bite of the apple while he plopped on the couch next to Ryan and Mark, who were busy tearing into the Doritos as the Wii started up. Matt sat on the floor in front of Ryan, stealing a handful for himself. Chica conveniently sat nearby ready for cleanup duty if need be.

 

Jack picked up his own remote and glanced at his friends. Mark was protecting the chips while Ryan and Matt fought over who would play Yoshi in Mario Kart. He chuckled at their bickering, silently choosing Luigi and picking his kart. He felt a chip hit him in the side of the head, and turned to see Mark holding in his laughter as he looked resolutely at the screen. Jack noticed he picked Mario and he rolled his eyes. Figures.

 

“What are ya, five?” Jack said, throwing the chip back at him.

 

Mark picked it up and ate it happily. “Well yeah! We’ve established I’m the world’s biggest baby.”

 

Jack smiled and took another bite of his apple. Ryan won the Yoshi argument, so Matt decided that Princess Peach was a good alternative, somehow.

  
The next couple hours were a chorus of yelling, cheering, and chip throwing; that last one much to Chica’s enjoyment. Ryan kicked everyone’s ass while Mark blamed his controller fucking up as an excuse for constantly being in last place, aside from his own inept skill at racing in new age Mario Kart game. Jack was having fun though, very happy to be back in California with some of his best friends. Any thought of weird emails and strange VR games were furthest from his mind at that moment.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact #3: A month after writing this chapter, I actually did fly to LA to visit my sister and ended up experiencing the exact same scenario in the LAX airport xD I sat next to baggage claim for an hour waiting for my ride. It was super meta. 
> 
> So I scoured the walls for an outlet and was writing this fic in the airport while I waited :P Extra meta. 
> 
> I have all sorts of Fun Facts about this fic lol like Fun Fact #4: Just mere months after writing about the Oculus Touch with the hand grabbies (that I originally called the V2) Oculus announced the release date for their new room scale capability. I had a good laugh at that. 
> 
>  
> 
> FUN FACTS ASIDE I will now be updating this fic once a week, shooting for every Saturday afternoon. I wanted to give everyone a good taste before extending the post schedule :P This will help me continue to write throughout the week and hopefully stay ahead so we don't run into the issue of "Last Updated 4 months ago" haha. I've already written 10 chapters and it hasn't even gotten to the really good parts yet so, welcome to the long haul!


	4. Chapter 4

Dinner with the Grumps went fantastic as expected. Mark laughed until his sides hurt and tears were in his eyes. It was so cool seeing Jack sit across the table, laughing with Arin and Danny, his face positively beaming the entire time. It was like it was PAX East all over again.

 

Their plates of food came and went, but the beer flowed freely. Mark sipped his iced tea contentedly while Arin guffawed at a story Jack just told from his boring college days. Something about having a two day party and a racoon looting their house, and Arin thought it was the funniest shit ever.

 

A few hours later, everyone was still going strong. If anything, beer just gives you more energy somehow, or just makes you more obnoxious. Mark was laughing with Barry when he noticed Jack’s droopy eyes. He was trying so hard to stay conscious, smiling at whatever Danny was talking about but Mark could tell he was two seconds away from passing out. He checked his phone and noted it was almost 11pm. Still early for Americans, but that Irishman was jet lagged as all hell, and his body was telling him it was 6am. Even Bosses need to sleep sometimes.

 

“Well guys, I think we need to call it a night. Jack is barely hanging on,” Mark said, smirking in Jack’s direction, who glared at Mark in return.

 

“Nah man, m’fine, jus’ give…” Jack tried and failed to suppress a huge yawn, which made the group laugh. “Fuck…” Jack chuckled, finally conceding to his sleepy fate.

 

After about 20 minutes of goodbyes, hugs, and finishing one’s beer, Mark and Jack finally headed to the car. Matt and Ryan elected to stay behind to catch up with The Grumps some more, making sure to smack Jack’s ass as they exited the restaurant.

 

Yawning, Jack bumped Mark’s shoulder with his own as they walked down the sidewalk towards the paid parking lot. “Thanks fer taking me out, sorry I’m all tired n’shit… if sleep is for the weak I guess I’m a pussy.”

 

Mark chuckled and bumped him back before steering him into the correct lot. “Even dopey Irishmen like yourself need sleep. Besides it’s getting close to my bedtime anyway.” Jack nodded in agreement, another yawn overtaking him as they reached the car and Mark unlocked the doors.

 

When they finally got back to the house it was midnight. Tyler and Ethan were already asleep, so Chica happily greeted them at the door who received very sleepy pets from the pair. Mark helped bring Jack’s stuff upstairs to the guest bedroom and bid him goodnight before disappearing into his own room, Chica hot on his heels. He collapsed onto bed and sighed happily as sleep claimed him. Today was a good day.

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning Mark sat outside on his back porch cross legged on a cushioned chair. He wore his black basketball shorts and a red shirt with his red hair all messed up from sleep. He sipped a cup of coffee while scrolling through his twitter feed on his phone. It was quiet, and he was glad he could take a morning to relax instead of waking up at 5am to record the day’s videos. Video prep had its benefits, especially when guests were over.

 

As soon as that thought crossed his mind, a sleepy squinty eyed Jack wandered outside, clutching his own mug of coffee. Mark looked up, pushing his glasses up on his nose and smiled. “Top o’ tha mornin’ to ya!” He greeted cheekily.

 

Jack squinted at him with heavy eyes, a small smirk playing on his lips. He wore his funny flamingo shorts and his yellow Oppai shirt. He took a seat in the chair next to Mark, petting Chica gently who had trotted over to greet him. “Hey,” Jack said, voice raspy from sleep. “Thanks for the coffee.”

 

Mark smirked, returning to his phone. “I know how you need your energy fuel in the mornings.” Jack nodded while holding his cup close with a grin. “Did you sleep well?”

 

“Hell yeah, I think I temporarily died fer eight hours then was brought back. I don’t remember fallin’ asleep.”

 

Mark laughed. “You were pretty tired by the time we got home, I didn’t think you were gonna make it up the stairs.”

 

Jack shrugged and pulled out his own phone, taking a big gulp of his coffee. They sat in comfortable silence for a while, enjoying the calm. It was already pretty warm but the morning still held that crisp air feel for now. Sunlight reflected off the pool water, and the morning haze in the distance slowly burned off as the sun rose higher in the sky.

 

Mark’s cup sat empty next to him on the side table while Jack was halfway done with his second. Mark sat up straight and stretched, reaching his arms high overhead. “So I was thinking while you were here, maybe we could try to collab with Bob and Wade on something. We’ve got some challenge videos to make with Tyler and Ethan, and I know Matthias really wants you over for some Team Edge videos, too. Speaking of, I need to text him… what do you think?” Mark asked. He looked at his friend who held his cup frozen midway to his mouth, staring down at his phone. He waited, but Jack gave no response. “...Jack?”

 

Jack was startled out of his trance and quickly put away his phone. His expression seemed concerned but he smiled at Mark anyway. “Y-yeah that’s fine! I’d love to hang out with Matthias. How’s their new baby doing?”

 

Mark studied Jack for a second, wondering what made him look so perturbed. “She’s great as far as I know. I’ve only met her once. I’ll see if Amanda is feeling up for some company while you’re here.”

 

Jack nodded and downed the rest of his coffee, jumping up with more pep than necessary. “Great! I’mma go take a shower, I’ll be back.” With that, Jack headed inside, leaving Mark alone in the backyard. He looked down at Chica, who’s tail started wagging at the sudden attention and panted happily. He shrugged at her. Maybe he just saw some weird fanart and it freaked him out. Grabbing his own mug, he called Chica inside. His stomach growled as he shut the sliding door. _Mmm, breakfast… waffles sound good..._

 

* * *

 

Later that day, Chica’s leash was attached to Mark’s wrist as he flicked his finger repeatedly on his iPhone screen. He was slowly meandering through a park staring at the device in his hands, Chica obediently walking next to him and sniffing the air.

 

“Mother fuck…” Jack grumbled to Mark’s left, face scrunched up in annoyance. He walked next to Mark, also staring intently at his iPhone screen and flicking his finger across it. Tyler walked on Mark’s other side, electing to enjoy nature and not stare at his phone the entire walk. Ethan stayed home to work on some videos for his channel so he could have some free time later.

 

It was evening, the sun just barely beginning to set. The trio waited until it got later in the day so it wasn’t so hot before taking Chica on a walk. Which was their original intent, but then they discovered that Mark’s phone could setup a hotspot for Jack to connect to, and well…

 

“Oh, my god, I will fuckin’ murder you…” Jack mumbled a little louder, ignoring the chuckle from the man next to him. They’ve been walking a little over an hour now, taking a breather from the day’s activities. However, it definitely wasn’t relaxing. Mark could feel the tension radiating off of Jack, and he couldn’t help but smirk. Tyler eyeballed the Irishman out of the corner of his eye, sensing the growing rage. Jack was way too into this.

 

“Fuckin’ stay in there, stay… st– FUCK!” Jack exploded in frustration, staring angrily at the phone and looking like he was ready to throw it. Tyler shook his head and Mark chuckled again, knowing full well what just happened.

 

“Did you use your Razz Berries?” Mark asked, still concentrating on his phone.

 

“I fuckin’ ran out...man, it was 800 CP too,” Jack sighed. He peered over Mark’s arm just in time to see the little Pokéball give its last wiggle and seal shut with a flare of stars. _Vulpix was caught!_

 

Mark looked up smugly. He slowly pushed his phone into Jack’s face, laughing as the Irishman playfully shoved him away.

 

“Fuck off man! I finally find a way ta play Pokémon GO while I’m here and I _still_ only get weedles n’ pidgeys n’ shit, which I have like FIFTY of, and I waste like ten balls on a stupid fuckin _zubat_ , who should NOT be that hard ta get. Then I run out of berries and great balls when a goddamn vulpix comes around, and I can’t toss the fucker to save my _life_ , and...the fuck you laughin’ at?”

 

Mark and Tyler were giggling the entire time Jack was ranting. Feigning annoyance, Jack mocked Mark by imitating his unique laugh, which only made Mark laugh harder and Tyler howl with laughter, making them stop. Jack broke character and began laughing himself, the three of them just a mess of giggles.

 

Mark wiped his eyes, trying to regain control. “Sucks to suck, man,” Mark said, smiling. Jack giggled again, the whole situation was just ridiculous.

 

“I gave up on that game a long time ago,” Tyler said. “Same shit kept happening to me.”

 

“I ain’t no _quitter!_ ” Jack said determined, returning to his phone.

 

They continued walking, hitting all the Pokéstops in the park before moving on to the next. They ended up finding a growlithe, sandshrew, and doduo among the endless pidgeys before they directed themselves back to Mark’s house.

 

“So I was thinking we could just play a shit ton of games tomorrow, we could make a day of it and just have fun. I know Tyler has some stuff to do, but you and I could hang out for a while. We don’t have to record everything but it’s whatever you wanna do.” Mark and Tyler turned down their street, gently guiding Chica in the right direction with her leash. Jack had put his phone away, giving his full attention to Mark. “Matthias and Amanda said we could come over Thursday, and Bob and Wade have Wednesday free. This weekend I’ve got a bunch of ideas with these goofs,” Mark motioned to Tyler. “I don’t know ‘bout you but I’m excited!” Mark was honestly really looking forward to just hanging out with Jack all day and doing what they do best: play video games. He looked over at Jack and was happy to find he was just _beaming_.

 

“That sounds amazin’. We could order pizza n’ chinese food n’ stuff yeah?” Jack asked and Mark nodded. Jack bounced along the sidewalk as they walked, excitement evident on his face. “Best trip _ever_. What are ya doing tomorrow, Tyler?”

 

“Normally I plan out Mark’s schedule and help him stay on track,” Tyler said, smirking at Mark who puffed out his chest. “But I have some errands to run, then I’m going to go on a hunt for some supplies for Friday. I volunteered so you and Mark could hang out at home tomorrow.”

 

Mark grinned from ear to ear. “Tyler is just the _bestest._ We can try out the new Rift, too! I can get it all set up so we can take turns.”

 

Jack’s steps slowed a little bit. “Well, actually, I brought mine with me…”  

 

Mark looked at him surprised. “Oh what! Nice! That’s great, we can figure out the multiplayer feature then, I’m super curious how that’s supposed to work.” He’s never been able to try multiplayer VR before, and how cool was it to try it out with Jack for the first time? YouTube is gonna blow up about it. “I even have a game we could try, it just came out recently for the new Rift.”

 

Jack looked at him curiously. “Really? What kind of game?”

 

Mark thought about it for a second before responding. “Some sort of adventure thing, I think it’s just a lot of different demos from what the guy said. But it seemed cool, I said I’d give it a go.”

 

Jack’s footsteps had slowed considerably. He waited a moment before asking, “So, some guy emailed ya about the game fer the Touch?”

 

Mark nodded. “Yeah! It was super weird, he emailed me like two days ago and I only got the thing yesterday. I had told him no at first ‘cause I didn’t have it, but now I do! So I told him to send me the info.”

 

“What’s the game called?” Jack asked slowly.

 

“ _Sudden Reality_. Some new guys in the development world, I figured why not.” Mark looked over at Jack only to notice he had stopped walking entirely, so he and Tyler stopped too. “You okay?” Mark asked, studying Jack’s face. He looked uncomfortable.

 

“Mark, do you remember last week when we were playin’ Rocket League n’ I kept gettin’ all those emails?” Jack asked, watching Mark intently. “That guy was asking me to play a game, remember?”

 

Mark nodded. “Did you wanna try his game instead or something?”

 

Jack rolled his eyes. “Mark, it’s the _same guy_. His name was Cal right? He told me about his new game too.”

 

Mark finally put two and two together, recognition dawning on his face. “Ohhhh you’re right! Yeah, his name was Cal.That’s who was emailing you?” Jack nodded, resuming the walk towards Mark’s home.

 

“That’s kinda weird…” Tyler commented, following Jack.

 

Mark caught up and noticed Jack’s concerned expression as they went. Something was off. “You know, we don’t have to play it, there’s plenty of other games.”

 

Jack shook his head. “Nah it’s fine, I told him later I’d look inta it. It should be fun!” Jack forced a smile, which Mark didn’t buy. He looked at him seriously.

 

“You sure?”

 

“ _Yes_ , I do want ta try it. Seriously, it’s cool, don’t worry,” Jack said firmly with a smile. This one seemed more genuine, so Mark let his uneasiness go.

 

“Alright, cool. We can save that one for last then!”

 

Tyler changed the subject to dinner and they planned out the rest of their evening, which mainly consisted of forcing Ethan away from his computer to socialize, relaxing in the backyard at the pool, and talking about nothing. However that quickly turned into just teasing the shit out of each other. Jack and Ethan marched around the pool in a squat with their arms turning out saying “I’m Tyler” until Tyler refused to speak to them.

 

While Jack and Ethan continued their shenanigans around the pool, Mark gave Tyler an evil look. After years of friendship, Tyler didn’t need words to understand what Mark was scheming. He nodded.

 

Mark and Tyler got up and acted like they were heading inside. As they passed by the laughing pair, Mark suddenly ran over to Jack and pushed him into the pool, who yelped loudly. Ethan was too busy laughing to notice Tyler walk up behind him and pick him up like a sack of potatoes.

 

“Fuck! Tyler, NO, TYLER, DON’T DO IT, TY–” Ethan screamed as Tyler launched him high in the air and landed with a big splash in the water. Mark was in tears. Jack slowly made his way to the edge of the pool shouting loud Irish (and maybe Swedish) curses when Ethan surfaced, who yelled in despair at his fate. Jack looked like a drowned puppy when he finally got out of the pool, and that only made Mark laugh harder. Jack then removed his shirt and hurled it at Mark’s face which Mark caught but that couldn’t stop the water from sloshing all over his front. He groaned, but couldn’t stop the giggles. Tyler looked smug watching Ethan crawl out of the pool, dragged down by his sopping wet clothes. Satisfied, Jack had gone inside to dry off and wash the chlorine from his hair.

  
They later watched dumb b-rated horror movies while sitting on the floor, tearing into a bag of cookies. They laughed at the cheesy jumpscares and overdone tropes. It was times like this with his friends that Mark cherishes, just being goofy and stupid with his favorite people. Mark rolled his eyes at a stereotypical “bad guy behind the fridge door” scene and looked over at Jack. Chica laid next to him with her head resting on Jack’s knee. Jack gently petted her head with one hand while feeding himself a cookie with the other. Mark’s heart warmed at the sight, glad his little Chica-bica was happy. Jack looked over and noticed Mark staring. Mark gestured towards the sleeping dog and Jack nodded, smiling big and leaning down to kiss the top of her head. It was too cute for words and Mark was about ready to squee. He busied himself with a cookie and returned his attention to the movie, just in time to scoff at the overdone jumpscare with seeing someone in the mirror suddenly. Ethan squeaked in terror which made the rest of them laugh, then Mark proceeded to tease him endlessly for being scared at something so stupid. It was a good night.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you guys still play Pokemon GO? I recently started playing it again, after religiously going out every day with friends for weeks when it first came out. There are a LOT more to catch now, and a lot more variety. Makes it easier to level up :P At least where I live anyway. 
> 
> I nearly caved during the week to post a new chapter cause I'm so excited about this story and the reception it's getting :P Was hard waiting for Saturday, haha. I'm currently sitting in a coffee shop, tired AF and slightly hungover cause I stayed up til 3am at my friends house drinking and watching Mark and Jack videos all night. Girls night with booze and YouTubers? Always down for that.
> 
> PS: This chapter has a small segment of "T-Service" for a friend of mine. She sails many ships.


	5. Chapter 5

“Is it working now?”

 

Jack picked up his headset and peered inside. “Nah, still black.”

 

“Goddamnit…” Mark grumbled, messing with the wire connections behind his computer. Sure yeah, the Oculus Rift Touch is wireless. Technically. You still had to plug in a receiver thing, but with two it was becoming difficult to detect both of them at the same time while also mapping out the room.

 

Jack sat in one of Mark’s chairs holding both of their headsets in his lap and spinning from side to side. He hated it when shit just didn’t work right away, especially computer stuff.

 

“Try resetting the connection again,” Mark asked from behind the monitor. Jack scooted over to the screen and clicked a reset button, then pressed two buttons on the headsets simultaneously. It hadn’t worked the five or six times earlier and kept choosing one set or the other. Jack waited patiently, watching the little indicator lights blink orange. 

 

Mark got up and walked around his desk to the front and looked at his screen. “It says it’s connected.”

 

Jack realized he was staring off into nothing and looked back down into his lap. Sure enough, both headsets held a solid green indicator light. He quickly looked inside both and cheered happily. “Fuck yeah! I see the menu in both!” 

 

“Fucking finally…” Mark pushed the desk back against the wall and straightened the tower. They were in the room he normally records with the Vive. Since the new Rift also has the room-scale capability, they needed the open area, especially with two of them. Setting up the new Oculus trackers around the room was easier than syncing the two headsets.

 

Jack gave up his chair, moving the headsets to an empty spot on the floor so Mark could sit down and get the game set up now that the headsets were connected and working. He hovered over Mark’s shoulder, watching as he pulled up his email and clicked the same exact link Cal had sent him just the week prior. The same dark web page loaded up advertising for  _ Sudden Reality _ , and without hesitation Mark clicked the big download button in the middle of the page. 

 

Jack had finally accepted that his own apprehension was unwarranted, that this was just a game that someone was reaching out to different YouTubers to play and get the name out there. It was just coincidence that Cal and his team at Broga Entertainment knew his travel plans, and when he got their headsets, and checking up on his plans with Mark yesterday morning, asking about their game schedule the following day, and… Jack shook his head, getting rid of the ranting thoughts. Overthinking something as simple as a  _ video game _ should not get to him this much. Of course Cal was going to follow up with him, developers do that, and it’s a no brainer that they would plan a day to just record. Cal is just a creepy good guesser...Besides, if Mark thought it was fine then it probably was. Right? If the game turned out to be shit, then they could just stop playing and try something else. 

 

As the game downloaded, Mark started setting up his recording software and making sure his camera and lights were placed properly. Jack moved out of the way and leaned against the opposite wall while he waited, busying himself on his phone. He snapped a picture of Mark adjusting the DSLR on the tripod and Jack’s left hand giving a thumbs up. He pulled up Twitter, selected the photo, and typed out “Getting ready to try out the new Rift in multiplayer! Super stoked!” He made sure to tag Mark in the photo then hit Tweet. 

 

A few seconds later, Mark’s phone buzzed. Mark looked down on the desk where his phone sat and reached over to swipe. Jack smirked as he watched Mark’s face turn into a grin. “You ass, you should have let me strike a pose.” 

 

Jack shrugged and read some of the replies he was already getting, rolling his eyes at the constant “SEPTIPLIER!” tweets. He was used to it. He knew they dug their own hole with that ship so they just went with it. He replied to a few tweets and liking others. Mark sat in front of the computer again, initiating the installation now that the download had finished.

 

Jack groaned sarcastically. “Why didn’t you do this  _ before _ ? You’re taking  _ foreverrrr _ ,” he whined. Mark didn’t look at him, he just quietly lifted his left hand in a middle finger salute. Jack chuckled to himself. He walked over and grabbed his headset and the hand controls. He’s glad they remembered to charge them up earlier that day before they recorded the rest of their games, or else they’d really be in a shit hole. They remembered the headsets, but didn’t think about installing the damn game ahead of time. Jack looked over Mark’s shoulder at the screen and luckily enough, it looked like the installation wasn’t going to be much longer. 

 

Jack walked to the middle of the room and slid on the headset over his eyes, adjusting the straps so it rested on his head comfortably. He went through the motions of setting up the lens spacing and his interpupillary distance, then decided to explore the menu area a little bit. In the old Rift you had a very polygonal room with obscure posters on the wall, a rug on the floor, and a menu screen floating in the center. It was very basic, clean, and nice to look at, but you couldn’t interact with any of it. Now, however, it had coffee mugs and bouncy balls you could pick up and toss around with the hand controls. You could even walk to the posters and make them crooked if you wanted to.

 

Jack was busying himself by breaking all of the mugs he could reach, blown away by the technology he was wearing and holding. It felt very freeing not having to worry about a cord behind him, which only added to the the immersion as he walked around the small space. He giggled as he messed with the posters on the walls, then grabbed a couple balls and juggled them in the air, bouncing and catching them over and over. He was having this much fun just in the  _ menu screen _ , and frankly he was okay with it. 

 

Unbeknownst to him, Mark sat in his chair and watched, a huge grin on his face. The installation was done but before he could launch the game he would have to interrupt Jack’s entertainment. He covered his mouth to keep from laughing out loud as Jack wildly swung his arms around. Mark had no idea what Jack was doing but it was hilarious to watch. 

 

An idea struck him and he quietly got up and tiptoed over to Jack. He reached out his hand to poke his side, knowing the Irishman was violently ticklish.

 

Jack was busy bouncing a ball like a basketball and totally forgot he was in a room with his friend. So when a sharp poke entered his side, he squeaked and swung his right arm around reflexively. His hand controller connected with a hard body part and he jumped back in fright, ripping the headset off his eyes.

 

“OW  _ fuck! _ ” Mark yelled, rubbing the side of his head. Jack realized what happened and a laugh erupted from inside him. He bent over, laughing to the point of tears while Mark rubbed his head sorely. “Why’d you have to hit me?!” 

 

“That-that’s what you get, you f-fuckin’ asshole!” Jack laughed, leaning against the wall for support. That was possibly the most hilarious thing that had happened today. He couldn’t even be mad at Mark for trying to scare him, the instant payback was just too good. 

 

“Jesus Christ, you bag of dicks…” Mark grumbled good naturedly. He was glad he put in his contacts earlier, a hit like that would have really fucked up his glasses.

 

Jack finally calmed down, catching his breath and standing up straight, trying to suppress any remaining giggles as the scene replayed in his brain. He wiped the tears from his eyes with his shirt and sighed, smiling big. “Ah, that was good.”

 

“I’m glad my pain brings you joy, dickbag,” Mark said, having returned to sitting in the chair.

 

“It does! Thank you!” Jack exclaimed happily. He walked over to the desk and eyeballed the computer. “Is it all installed?”

 

“Yep, just was waiting for you to come back to reality. My method backfired,” Mark smiled sarcastically at Jack before restarting the program with the new game. 

 

Jack chuckled. “The whole menu is different now, you can walk around n’ pick stuff up. The physics are great and the controls feel really nice, jus’ like the Vive.” 

 

Mark nodded before reaching for his own headset. “Good, I was worried about that with all the wireless business. It’s not laggy?”

 

Jack shook his head. “So far no, but we won’t really know that until we get inta the game. It’s sooo nice not ta worry ‘bout a wire behind ya, too.”

 

Mark stood up and donned the headgear. Jack watched has he turned his head left and right, then turned in a circle. Mark stepped forward, jumped back, then twirled in a circle again, pretending to fight off invisible zombies or something, including some impressive karate kicks. Jack laughed at the spectacle in front of him. 

 

When Mark was done, he stopped moving and took off the headset, smiling in Jack’s direction. “No cord is nice!” 

 

Jack chuckled. “Obviously.”

 

Jack moved to stand in the middle of the room while Mark went to start the recording and turn on the DSLR. Jack watched him go through his routine, which was not unlike his own. Mark stepped back next to Jack and eyeing the viewfinder. Making sure that both of them were framed properly, he took a deep breath.

 

“Hello everybody, my name is Markiplier and welcome to a new VR game called  _ Sudden Reality _ …” 

 

Jack couldn’t hold back his smile the moment Mark started talking. Even though they were technically colleagues, he still saw Mark as one of his inspirations. It never failed to make him giddy knowing he has the rare opportunity to record videos with Markiplier. Even after all the videos they already did that day, he still felt just as excited. He waved when Mark introduced him and that they would be playing the game multiplayer style.

 

On cue, they both pulled their headsets over their eyes. Jack was met with a black title screen with the options “Play” and “Multiplayer” underneath. He selected the latter with his hand controller.

 

Immediately they were put into a character creation screen. Jack stood in front of a mirror and saw his character’s reflection. His character had basic human features with a gray t-shirt and gray pants, and moved as he moved. Not to mention the graphics were actually pretty legit. 

 

“Oh that’s so fuckin’ cool…” Jack said to himself, a giant grin on his face.

 

Jack and Mark commented on the different creation options floating around their mirror in front of them. They looked like real square buttons you would see on a PC screen, almost like The Sims but you were actually your Sim. To his left were category options, titled Hair, Face, Shirt, Pants, Shoes, and Accessories. He reached up and tapped the hair category. A list of hairstyles rotated in front of him and he tapped on one that looked like a blonde floof. Jack looked in the mirror and saw that same hairstyle sitting on top of his character’s head. The hair color options revealed themselves on the right of the mirror and he quickly chose the medium brown, disappointed there wasn’t a grass green. 

 

“Where’s the button for more muscles?” Jack heard Mark say to the left of him. He glanced to his left out of reflex and was surprised to see a second character in its own creation screen nearby. His right arm stuck out and was moving a knob from side to side while watching himself in his own mirror. His skin tone changed between darker and lighter then darker again.

 

“Mark, is that you?” Jack asked, staring at the other character. It stopped and looked around until he spotted Jack and jumped a little. 

 

“Why the fuck is there some random dude with a toupee next to me?!” Mark started. Jack laughed.

 

“Dude, it’s  _ us! _ ” Jack waved his arms around. 

 

“What... hold on, touch my hand.” Mark held up a hand and Jack reached over to carefully press his controller to his hand IRL. The graphics clipped slightly but overall, their characters just shared an incredibly gentle high five. There was a moment’s pause before they both fangirled.

 

“This is fuckin’  _ amazing! _ ”

 

“Holy fudge, this is  _ so cool _ !!” 

 

The pair continued to mess around with their character designs, from changing their hairstyles to pigtails, cycling through obnoxious shirt designs, to discovering some pretty dresses and leather jackets. Mark laughed as Jack stood in a cheerleader outfit and pretended to throw some pompoms around. Mark swayed his head from side to side and watched his new digital shoulder length blonde hair swing with his movements.

 

“Hey Jaaack~” Mark sang a few minutes later. Jack looked back from tweaking his facial hair options in his mirror and immediately doubled over laughing. Mark had found the gender switch.

 

He stood there and stared down at his brand new set of boobs, pretending to poke them with his digital hands. Jack was in tears. 

 

“Does this dress make me look fat?” Mark asked innocently, selecting a blue and white sun dress in his options menu and watching it appear on his body. 

 

Jack recovered from his laughing episode and took a deep breath. “Nah dahling, you look gorgeous!” He said in the most posh British accent he could muster. Mark finally broke and giggled at himself in the mirror, which turned into a cackle the longer he looked. 

 

“Jesus Christ, Mark,” Jack chuckled again. “Hold on a frickin’ minute. We need to finish makin’ our dudes. How close to real life us can we get?” He asked, excitedly stepping back over to his own options and cycling through the facial structures. 

 

The two spent the next fifteen minutes fine tuning their characters to the best of their ability to see who could make it look like their real selves the most. They agreed that they would just cut this part out of the video later. Jack found a blue hoodie and ripped jeans with some crazy looking green shoes to go with his spiky brown hair and chin scruff. After selecting a light blue color for his eyes, he stood back and admired his effort in the digital mirror. He felt like he was back in summer of 2015. It was weird seeing his hair look so... _ normal _ . 

 

“Kay I’m done!” Jack announced, turning to look at Mark.

 

“One sec…” Mark said. He was busy tapping through color options on a tightly fitted t-shirt. His character wore dark blue jeans and gray high-tops. He had black hair that was reminiscent of his early fohawk days, but with his own black facial scruff.

 

After Mark shrugged and chose a bright pink, he checked himself out in the mirror, turning to look at his ass. “How’s that?” He asked.

 

Jack chuckled. “Not bad. Too bad they don’t have red hair, ya look weird.” He laughed as Mark flipped him off.

 

“What do you guys think?” Mark asked in the direction of the camera. “Who looks more like their real life self? Let us know in the comments!” 

  
Jack smiled and said, “Alright, let’s start already.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was fun to write cause I've always loved Mark and Jack's dynamic. Also it was the first step in writing real life with the digital world of VR and it was oddly entertaining to do :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, can you believe I forgot what day it was? Psh. Sorry this is a little late :)

Jack hit “Finish” on the bottom of his mirror as Mark did the same. A text field popped up prompting to name their characters, with a floating keyboard underneath. He typed in “Jackaboy” and hit enter. Mark submitted his as “Markimoo”, then the mirrors and appearance options faded away. Jack’s headset went black for a moment, then a sentence appeared in the middle of his line of sight.

 

_For this first game, it is recommended that you sit on the floor or in a chair._

 

“Sit on the floor?!” Mark shouted. Jack lifted his headset off to see him grab for his computer chair and wheel it in the middle of the room.

 

“Whatever, imma sit on tha floor!” Jack declared, quickly sitting cross legged on the ground next to Mark. He fit his headset back over his eyes.

 

“I thought you’re supposed to be able to walk around a little with thi– oh holy shit!” Mark exclaimed when the scene came into view. Jack’s jaw dropped.

 

Jack sat in a little race car in a giant grass field. “What the…” he mumbled to himself as he looked around. He could see other similar race cars on either side of him, little cartoony smoke drifting from their tailpipes. They were in a giant dome on a football field with a gigantic glowing gray ball sitting in the center, and a blue goal on the far end with a shimmery transparent shield over the front. He heard Mark bark out a laugh.

 

“Oh my fucking God, are we playing _Rocket League?!_ ”

 

Just then a loud booming ding sounded above them and Jack looked up through his windshield and gaped, “No way!” Sure enough, giant floating digital numbers began counting down from five. Immediately he grabbed his steering wheel and button controls popped up above his hands telling him how to accelerate, jump, and brake.

 

When the buzzer went off, Jack’s car shot forward as he pressed the trigger in his right hand. He cheered with excitement, until he realized he wasn’t the only one heading straight for the ball.

 

“Oh no, ohhh shit– _OH SHIT!_ ” Jack yelled, clenching his eyes shut and his car collided with the other players. He heard a series of crashes, then slowly opened his eyes to see he was upright in the grass, car rumbling quietly. A huge excited smile then plastered itself on his face. “That was intense!”

 

Mark laughed loudly next to him. “HELL YEAH!”

 

Jack shot forward again, laughing with Mark while steering his car over a power up. A meter on his left on the dash of the car lit up halfway indicating his boost energy. Jack looked forward and saw the ball coming right for him. Grinning, Jack pressed another button and his car sped up immensely, colliding the front end into the ball and shooting it into the wall.

 

“Yeaaahhh ha ha, this is fucking AWESOME!” Jack yelled happily, drifting his car around to run after the ball again.

 

“Hey Jack!” Mark yelled, and Jack looked to his left to see a car racing along next to him. The name “Markimoo” floated above it in white capital letters.

 

“Hey buddy!” Jack responded, bringing his eyes forward again and suddenly swerving to avoid an oncoming player. Jack looked over just in time to see Mark’s car get spun around by that same player.

 

“Nooooo! _Mother humper!_ ”

 

“HA get rekt ya doof!”

 

For a while they barely paid attention to the ball, instead choosing to chase after each other and feeling exhilarated by how fast they were going. Jack knew he was sitting on the floor in Mark’s house, but he could almost feel the g-forces as he spun his car around to avoid getting slammed in the side by Mark.

 

Suddenly, horns and sirens went off and he was blown backwards, Jack cringing at the world spinning around him. His windshield glowed orange as the text _Boomer Scored!_ flashed upon it, followed by “ORANGE: 1    BLUE: 0”.

 

“Ah shit! We’re losing! What the hell!” said Mark as their characters were brought back to their starting points.

 

“Don’t worry, we got this. PUT ON YER GAME FACE!” Jack yelled as the starting timer reached zero.

 

“AHHH!” Mark screamed hysterically as he launched his car into turbo mode. Jack watched Mark’s car collide into the ball and send it arching up towards their blue goal.

 

“Oh my god,” Jack said in disbelief, watching the ball glide gracefully over the tops of the other players.

 

“Yes… yes! YES!” Mark cheered happily. The ball bounced into the blue goal, triggering the sirens above. Jack’s windshield then glowed blue. _Markimoo Scored! … ORANGE: 1   BLUE: 1_

 

“Holy shit that was fuckin’ amazing!”

 

“I did that, that was ME! I did that!” Jack peeked under his headset to see Mark dancing in his chair, fist pumping both arms and just laughing to himself. He chuckled and went back to his game.

 

They couldn’t score another epic goal like Mark did again, in fact it took several minutes for anyone to get the next one in the first place. Unfortunately, it was Orange.

 

Jack was too busy freaking out about climbing up the wall in his car to be of any help. He kept shouting and swearing the higher he got, then shut his eyes out of fear when he realized how high he really was and let his car drop. Mark kept making absurd boosts towards the ball only to get sideswiped by another player or missing the target entirely. He raged and cursed every obstacle to “ _GO TO HELL!_ and _“FUCK OFF!”_. However, with 30 seconds to spare on the clock and Orange up by one point, Mark started laughing.

 

“Jack, we are so _terrible_ , oh my god,” Mark chuckled.

 

“This is _hard_!” Jack laughed too, and groaned as the ball soared over his head. “Yeah our one epic run is over. Ya used up all our luck ‘n that one shot.”

 

“Virtual Reality Rocket League is way harder than you’d expect it to be,” Mark said while he attempted and failed to faceplant into the ball once again. “AW CMON!”

 

Jack raced forward and tapped the ball with his right fender trying to inch it towards the goal. Another player swooped in and hit it straight on at the blue goal. Jack heard Mark gasp.

 

“Oh yes, go dude!”

 

“Go! GO! ALL THE WAY TO THE GOAL!”

 

Jack shot his hands up in the air and cheered as the ball sunk into the blue shield and blew everyone away, literally.

 

_Bandit Scored! …  ORANGE: 2    BLUE: 2_

 

“Alright guys, we got this, twenty seconds!” Jack gripped his controllers tightly.

 

“Let’s hang back and see where it goes,” Mark suggested seriously. “I’ll take the right, you get the left.”

 

“Got it, gold leader,” Jack said. The timer boomed and the other players raced towards the center. Blue team shot it vertically towards the right.

 

“Mine mine mine _MINE!_ ” Mark yelled. Jack coasted slowly forward and watched Mark race towards the falling ball. He hit the underside and lobbed it back to the center – right in the path of Jackaboy.

 

“JACK! GO!” Mark yelled excitedly.

 

He boosted forward and raced towards the ball, his hands clutching his controllers nervously. The hype was _real_.

 

“Ahhh go Jack! Go Jack!”

 

With a huge grin, Jack began yelling as he got closer to the ball. His heart was racing and loudly declared “SPEED IS KEEEEEY!” In a split second decision he pressed the button to jump, which successfully smashed the ball into a line drive through the goal shield as the timer ran out.

 

_Jackaboy Scored! …  ORANGE: 2    BLUE: 3_

 

“YEAHHHH!”

 

Cheers erupted all around them as Jack yelled into the air. A giant blue trophy descended from the ceiling, declaring the Blue Team the winner of this match.

 

“Oh that sweet sweet victory,” said Mark smugly.

 

“That was really intense!” Jack laughed, wheeling his car in circles for celebration before it took away his controls.

 

“So what happened to survival adventure?” Mark asked. “Rocket League isn’t exactly what I had in mind but, I ain’t complaining!”

 

“I know right?” Jack was quickly questioning _Sudden Reality_ and why another game would be inside it. Maybe it was false advertising.

 

“Well, now what, I’m clicking and nothing’s happening,” Mark said.

 

The victory screen remained as Jack tried clicking around with his own controllers to no avail. “Huh, weird…”

 

Just then the screen went black again, and a prompt showed up in the center with the game title _Sudden Reality_ above it.

 

_Next game?_

_Yes       No_

 

“Jesus, we’re still in the same game?” Jack asked bewildered.

 

“I wonder if there’s a copyright issue. Maybe it’s a VR bootleg!”

 

Jack shrugged and selected yes. “I could go for another round, how about you?”

 

“Hell yeah, I’m down.” Jack heard Mark click his controller.

 

The text faded away but the stadium did not reappear. Apparently “next game” did not mean a new match. It literally meant another game.

 

“This isn’t Rocket League...but...wait, oh my god!” Mark squealed as Jack loaded into the game. They were outside on a dirt landscape. A round cylindrical gun that almost looked like a potato shooter laid at Jack’s feet. He leaned to pick it up, examining the small interface on the back of the gun displaying four compartments that were not currently labelled.

 

“They are SO CUTE!” Mark squee’d in a high pitched voice. Jack looked around to see Mark’s character bent over a little pink blob on the ground. It smiled happily up at Mark, who cooed at the little guy. “Look at you! Oh I just wanna snuggle you forever, look at that face!”

 

“Are we playin’ _Slime Rancher now?!_ ” Jack couldn’t believe it. In real life he stood up so he could maneuver around better. His left controller allowed him to warp closer to Mark’s character while his right held the gun. He smiled down at the little happy slime. “It’s so adorable!” Jack shared in Mark’s fondness for tiny cute things.

 

Mark’s character patted the slime, which induced another high pitched giggle from the older man. “Jack this is _so cool_ , Slime Rancher VR is awesome!”

 

While Mark obsessed over the slime (who was in fact more interested in the carrots sitting just behind him) Jack held up his gun, unsure of how to use it. “Is this the same sucker thing as before, or -oh!” He pressed his finger to one of the triggers and the gun flared to life. A vortex appeared in front of the nozzle, which just so happened to be pointing at the pink slime at Mark’s feet.

 

With a quiet “whoa!” uttered from the slime, it disappeared into Jack’s gun. One of the four compartments now lit up with a sprite of the creature and the name “Pink Slime x1” underneath.

 

Mark’s character slowly looked over at Jack, whose jaw had dropped the moment the slime vanished. He could feel the wave of “ _what the fuck?!_ ” emanating from his friend.

 

“I am so sorry, haha, I didn’t know… hahaha!” Jack started doubling over laughing at the shocked silence from Mark who continued to stare at the culprit that sucked up his source of momentary joy.

 

“That’s so much more disturbing in VR,” Mark muttered, reaching over to pick up his own gun.

 

All around them pink and blue rock slimes hopped about. Jack warped over to a carrot patch where another pink slime was nibbling at an exposed root. He watched as it suddenly compressed its body and a small pink diamond shaped object emerged from its behind. He aimed his gun and triggered it, sucking up the newfound object. The second compartment in his gun was now labelled “Pink Plort x1”.

 

“There’s no way around it. No matter how cute it is, plorts are literally still shit. VR makes it more real!” Jack said, cringing at the thought.

 

“But the cutest little shits you’ve ever seen!” Mark followed a group of pink slimes, sucking up the plorts they excreted. Jack smiled and shook his head.

 

He turned warped over to the Plort Market screen with the round receptacle placed in front of it. Jack squinted. Only pink plorts and blue rock plorts were displayed and several others were missing.

 

“Weird, there’s supposed to be a shit ton more plorts up here. Is this all we get?” Shrugging, he aimed his gun at the receptacle and pressed the opposite trigger, watching his single plort launch and disappear into the device. His gun dinged and he looked down to see that right below the four compartment screens displayed a gold coin with an “n” on it. A number sat next to it indicating that he had now acquired 12 newbucks.

 

“Yes! Makin’ all that fat cash!”

 

Jack spent the next ten minutes examining the corrals and building the barrier to keep the creatures inside. He teased Mark by sucking in the slimes he was gawking at and shooting them into the new pen that he created. Mark got upset and shot carrots at his head with his own gun, which Jack happily used to feed his slimes.

 

After Jack harvested a few more plorts, he warped over to where a small rock slime waddled around. He crouched down to get a better look at it with a big grin on his face. He reached down to pet it, but then his vision flared red and he felt his hand get shoved backward.

 

“Ow, what!” Jack shouted in surprise. It must have been the sudden scare but his hand almost felt like it was stinging for real.  

 

“What’d you do!” Mark teased from his position nearby. He was sitting on the ground and feeding a carrot to a pink slime in front of him.

 

“I forgot the rock ones hurt! I just tried to pet it and it stabbed me! Fuckin rock slimes.”

 

He heard Mark smirk. “Way to go, moron.”  Jack retaliated by shooting one of his plorts at Mark’s head.

 

“Damn slime,” Jack grumbled, turning and sucking it up with his gun. “No pets for you!”

 

Sometime later, they eventually corralled all the slimes into the three different pens. They created Pink Rock Largos and carefully placed them in the middle corral. The largos sat up to Jack’s waist, and although they were giant happy blobs that he just wanted to hug, the rock half of them proved to be nearly deadly. Mark got a little too close.

 

“I couldn’t help it, I just wanted to make it happy!” Mark had whined after warping away as fast as possible with a handful of the Pogofruit he was feeding to the largos. Jack just rolled his eyes.

 

They turned in what plorts they harvested and looked around. Jack noticed that there weren’t any branching off locations in this map. “Now what? We’ve gotten all tha slimes, and we can’t go anywhere.” 

 

“Weren’t there supposed to be like, tabby slimes and green slimes and the red lava ones?” Mark asked as he sucked up some carrots with his gun. He then warped over to one of the corrals and started shooting the food inside. 

  
“Yeh, but I guess this version of tha game doesn’t have it...well that fuckin’ sucks!” Jack was a little disappointed in the limitations of the game, but who was he to question the capabilities of VR.

 

Mark warped back to Jack’s side. His character reached his hands up to his own head and lifted an invisible object above. “Whoa, we’ve been recording for like an hour. I think it’s time to end the episode!”

 

Jack lifted his own headset to see Mark standing next to him, his Oculus sitting on his forehead. The chair Mark had sat in earlier was now back at the desk where it belonged.

 

“Holy shit, that did not feel like an hour!”

 

Mark directed himself at the DSLR camera. “Hope you guys enjoyed the video, let us know whose VR characters are more accurate in the comments!”

 

Jack lifted his hand and whispered, “It’s me, mines better!”

 

“Thank you everybody so much for watching. And as always, we’ll see you in the next video. Buh-bye!” Mark waved for his outro and Jack joined in. Mark walked over to the camera and hit a button, then bent over his computer to end and save the full recording. Jack stretched his arms above his head.

 

“So is that the end of the game or is there more?” Mark asked Jack as he clicked around.

 

“No idea, it’s not what I expected it to be.” Jack pulled his headset back over his eyes. “Wait a minute…”

 

“What’s up?”

 

Another black screen had shown up in the game, prompting them whether or not to proceed to the next game. “I guess there’s more ta see, we have another game ta do.”

 

Mark scratched his chin scruff. “We can keep recording, we still have some time to kill. I’m curious to see what else this game has.”

 

Jack peeked at Mark from below his headset and grinned. “Fuck yeah, let’s keep goin’!”

  
Mark smiled and turned to his computer to set up a new recording session.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I legit forgot it was Saturday and I've just been sitting on my couch crafting all day while watching RuPaul. I was in bed and checking notifications when I realized I hadn't posted xD haha. Got out of bed to do this! 
> 
> On a different note, I would love these two games in VR. I wanna feel theoretical g-forces in a race car and hold a slime! But for now, I have the option to be a wizard and shoot things out of my hands so I can deal :P


	7. Chapter 7

They decided this episode would be uploaded to Jack’s channel to share the wealth since Jack wasn’t doing his own recording at home. When Mark was ready, Jack lifted his arm for his high five.

 

“Top o’ tha mornin’ to ya laddies! My name is Jacksepticeye and I’m here with Mark ta play some more of _Sudden Reality_ , a really interestin’ VR game that was sent ta us recently. So thank you so much Cal from Broga Entertainment for sendin’ that ta us. The first episode is over on Mark’s channel where we got ta play fuckin’ Rocket League and Slime Rancher!”

 

“It was _adorable!_ ” Mark gushed with his hands on his cheeks, remembering the blobby dopey slimes.

 

“I think Mark peed his pants at how cute the slimes are.”

 

“I most definitely did.”

 

Jack chuckled before continuing, gesturing with his hand controllers. “We’re gonna jump in and see what’s next. So far this is NOT what we expected at all.”

 

“Yeah, the dude said it was an adventure survival game thingy-do? I mean it’s fun, but a bit of false advertising,” Mark said with a shrug, pulling the headset over his eyes. “But it’s still fun!”

 

Jack followed suit and hit “yes” in his menu. Everything dimmed to black. Jack could hear Mark shuffling around next to him. “It’s not what we expected but maybe the more we play, the more will get revealed or whatever.” That creepy feeling briefly entered the back of Jack’s mind again, remembering Cal’s words.

 

_...This game will impact you in every way possible..._

 

Jack shook the thoughts away again, ignoring the nagging in his brain. He doesn’t understand why he’s so paranoid over a fucking _game_. He chalked it up to over thinking and focused back on what he saw in front of him...

 

A bed of yellow flowers.

 

There Mark and Jack stood, in the middle of a bed of yellow and somewhat pixelated-style flowers. The area directly around them was illuminated by a shaft of light from a hole in the ceiling above them.

 

“Where the hell are we?” Mark asked, his character looking around wildly.

 

Jack squinted at the purple hued walls in the darkness. The only exit was a single archway leading into darkness. Everything seemed oddly familiar… Jack looked back down at the flowers, then back up at the source of light.

 

Then it clicked.

 

“Oh my god,” Jack grinned, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Is this Undertale? Are we in fuckin’ _Undertale?!_ ” He couldn’t contain his excitement, the smile on his face was enormous.

 

“Well goddamnit, of course this is a thing,” Mark said with disdain. Jack wasn’t paying attention, he was too giddy.

 

“Oh _fuck_ yes, this is cool! I’m gonna say hi to goat mom n’ give her a hug n’ holy shit let’s _go!_ ” Jack bounced on his feet as he attempted to warp forward.

 

He didn’t budge.

 

He tried again. But his character stayed in place. He could move his arms and the indication to warp forward was there, but nothing happened.

 

“Aw, man! Is it bugged?” Jack felt his heart sink. C’mon game, Undertale in VR? He’d love to see that!

 

“Well this sucks.” Mark’s character didn’t budge either. Jack could see his arms waving around as if to move forward, yet they both stayed rooted to the spot.

 

Suddenly Jack’s skin felt prickly. Not like goosebumps, but like static electricity. He frowned, unsure of what was happening.

 

“I feel weird all of a sudden.” Jack said hesitantly.

 

“You feel that too?”

 

Jack glanced in Mark’s direction before Jack heard the subtle laughter echoing throughout the cave, making Jack jump slightly.

 

“What tha’ fuck was that?!”

 

The laughter grew louder and more intense. It sounded possessed and pitchy. Jack recognized that laugh.

 

He spun around and noticed a single yellow flower planted out of place from the rest of the group. Just a plain flower. It didn’t have a face, but right now it didn’t have to. Jack smirked.

 

“Mark, I think we have a friend.”

 

Mark looked back as well, noticing the awkward looking flower right away.

 

“Is this the part where Flowey attacks us with his “friendliness pellets”?” Mark asked smugly.

 

The flower slowly began twitching and shaking. Jack realized it was the source of the laughter, its trembling matching the dark sounds.

 

“Jaysus, this is givin’ me goosebumps!” Jack chuckled, hiding his slight nervousness. “Flowey buddy! How’s it go–” Jack stopped short when the flower twitched violently and the laughing stopped completely. Flowey’s signature smile appeared on the center, bright and happy and friendly.

 

“Yeah that’s not creepy at all,” Mark said sarcastically, and Jack agreed. “So, what do we do? Don’t we fight him or something?”

 

“Yeah, I th– whoa!” Flowey’s face glitched slightly. Then glitched again, his eyes becoming large and black with small white pupils. His face continued to distort, now showing his fanged grin. He began shaking again, the laughter returning to echo around them, but much louder this time.

 

“What tha fuck!” Jack said in alarm over the laughter, looking over in Mark’s direction.

 

“I don’t remember this part, is this something that happens in the genocide route or whatever?” Mark asked. Jack had to remind himself that Mark doesn’t know the entire story in Undertale like he did. Unfortunately, this was definitely not canon.

 

“No, this isn’t normal,” Jack said, voice rising further over the laughter. Flowey’s face still glitched, but his original friendly smile has been replaced completely by the dark eyed fanged grin. He began swaying side to side, as if he was going to the beat of his own theme music.

 

Mark opened his mouth to say something but both men cringed away at the sudden onslaught of insane laughter, almost too loud for them to handle. Jack’s vision began glitching and vibrating. He looked up to see Flowey’s face turn into that demonic open mouthed grin. That laugh was the same laugh he heard right before fighting Omega Flowey, but this time it wasn’t stopping.

 

“Yo goat mom! Where are ya?!” Jack yelled, hoping for her to show up soon and rescue the pair. However, the longer that Flowey sat there and mocked them, Jack started to think that wasn’t going to happen this time...

 

“Yeah Toriel, anytime would be greeeaaaat!” Mark yelled in return. “Good god, I can barely see, this guy is fucking up my vision.”

 

Jack’s stomach sank when he saw the little white pellets appear, encircling Flowey’s head and spinning menacingly. Jack’s vision continued to blur and glitch the longer he stared at Flowey. He could almost feel the word “DIE” emanating from Flowey. He didn’t need subtitles for that.

 

“Whoa whoa whoa!” Mark shouted in alarm at the appearance of the white pellets.

 

“Oh shit, Flowey no, no, AH!” The white pellets shot forward all at once at the two of them, and Jack’s first instinct was to duck and cover his head as he was peppered with bullets. He winced as his vision shook intensely, but then the laughter stopped. Jack peeked up just in time to see a ball of flame shoot across the room directly at Flowey, whose face displayed pure anger. As the orb collided into his small frame he glitched violently then disappeared without a sound.

 

Jack slowly uncovered his head and looked in the direction the ball of flame originated from and smiled. Toriel did come!

 

“Fuck ya goat mom!” Jack cheered as he warped over in front of the dark archway where she stood. Toriel was very tall, her white fur and purple tunic slightly pixelated. Her long ears flopped on either side of her head while small white smooth horns adorned the top. Despite her snout she had a wide caring grin with large eyes as she studied the two humans in the Underground. Jack wanted to give her a big hug.

 

“Damn you’re tall.” Mark had appeared next to Jack and was gazing up at Toriel. She chuckled silently, but her face grew serious as she looked behind them where Flowey had previously sat.

 

A black text box appeared above Toriel’s head. Her mouth moved but only a soft twittering sound could be faintly heard as the text was spelled out. When she finished, she looked back down at the pair looking concerned but smiling anyway.

 

“ _What a terrible creature, torturing such poor innocent youths,_ ” Jack quickly read aloud in the voice he had created for her so long ago. The text changed just as Jack finished, as if on cue. Her mouth continued to move, the consistent twittering echoing in their ears. “ _Ah, do not be afraid my children. I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins._ ”

 

“I like that the dialogue changes with the number of players,” Mark commented, remembering going through this part himself. Jack nodded in agreement, continuing to read Toriel’s words.

 

“ _I pass through this place every day to see if anyone has fallen down. You are the first humans to come down here in a long time._ ” Toriel held out a gentle clawed hand to Jack, smiling with a twinkle in her eye. “ _Come! I will guide you through the catacombs. This way._ ” She gestured towards the archway behind her. Jack grinned and reached for her hand.

 

It glitched.

 

“What tha…” Jack’s eyes went wide and he flinched his hand back. “You guys saw that, right?!” Toriel watched him with sad concern. She gently offered her hand again, waiting patiently.

 

“I saw that!” Mark shouted from behind him.

 

Jack grimaced as he reached for her hand again. His character grasped it firmly, and Toriel smiled happily.

 

Jack watched her face closely, waiting for the next move.

 

A few seconds later he looked around, then back at Toriel who was still smiling at him, but not moving. Jack let go of the trigger on his controller, but his character’s hand didn’t respond. “Aw shit…” He tried again, then moved his arm back. His character continued to hold onto Toriel, who was still smiling intently at him.

 

“Mark, can ya move at all?”

 

“Oh. Nope, sure can’t.” Jack looked behind him at Mark’s character. Although he could hear him moving, his character in game was frozen. He groaned.

 

“I think the game bugged out,” Jack said, frustration evident in his voice. “Mark, can you res–whoa!” Jack jumped, jerking his right hand away from its original position. He had felt something squeeze it, and he quickly lifted his headset to look around the room, thinking someone snuck up on them. The room was empty except for Mark standing just off to the side.

 

“What happened?!” Mark asked, sounding very on edge.

 

“I thought I felt something grab my hand…” Jack mumbled, pulling his headset back over his eyes.

 

“Oh hell no, that’s creepy.” Jack could hear him rustle around with his headset, probably doing the same thing he just did and checking to make sure it was only the two of them in the room.

 

Jack took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Anyway, can ya restart the game– OKAY NO, FUCK THAT.” Jack yelled, ripping the headset off and looking around fervently. Something _definitely_ grabbed his hand, like they were trying to shake it.

 

“Holy shit, Jack can you see this?!” Mark hadn’t taken the headset off and he was staring up at something over in Jack’s direction.

 

Giving one last glance at the room, Jack replaced the headset back over his eyes and looked up. Toriel’s body was bigger, like she was growing. Her eyes were black, the pupils gone. “What tha fuck??” Jack said bewildered. His character was still stuck in shaking hands mode, but no longer holding on to Toriel’s hand. Too many things were happening at once.

 

The area around them had grown black except for the ground they stood on. Static played in Jack’s ears and his skin felt faintly prickly. Toriel’s smile became more dramatic and fanged than before, small red pupils glinting happily at them. Jack’s skin crawled as he realized it was Flowey’s smile her face changed into. “Goddamnit Flowey, ya fuckin’ bastard!”

 

The detail in Toriel’s clothing and face faded away and her shape grew to a giant mass above them. Mark and Jack silently watched as it rose, it disappearing into the darkness as it was beginning to take shape. Just then, their characters unfroze and returned to their creator’s positions. Jack absentmindedly squeezed his hand, willing the ghost grip to disappear. The duo slowly backed up, not taking their eyes off the _thing_ above them.

 

“What the hell is going on?” Mark demanded.

 

“That’s what I’d like ta fuckin’ know.” Jack stared up, then as he thought about the situation they were both in, he smirked to himself. “This is the creepiest shit I’ve seen in a long time.”

 

Music played in the background, Jack recognizing the Omega Flowey battle track from the game. That made his stomach drop. As the ominous music built up, dark shapes started lowering themselves down high above them. “Oh fuck, oh fuck…”

 

“NOW what the hell is going on?!” Mark yelled, staring up at the creature becoming more and more visible. Long vine like shapes spiderwebbed out from the dark mass in the center, sharp pointed spikes decorating the length of them.

 

“Uh, spoiler alert Mark, but we’re fucked.” Jack admitted.

 

The track crescendoed then fell silent. A moment later, the insane laughter Jack heard earlier echoed loudly around them, making them flinch.

 

“Oh fuck..." Mark mumbled, then with a false bravado turned his attention upward. "Hello, hi, welcome to the party!”

 

Jack rolled his eyes, ignoring Mark. He watched as Omega Flowey’s screen illuminated and his demonoid smile etched itself across the surface as he continued to laugh. His pepto pink face pulsated beneath the grey tubes and his vine tendrils snaked their way around each other. Jack grimaced at the sight, it looking much more sinister and disturbing in this manner than before.

 

“Yeah, so in case ya didn’t pick up on it Mark… that’s Flowey.”

 

“No shit that’s Flowey!” Mark said in disbelief, moving to stand next to Jack. “What the fuck do we do?” That was a great question.

 

Suddenly an orange ACT button appeared in front of them. Jack cheered and ran over to it, smashing his hand on it. “We play tha game! Mark, I’ll grab tha ACTs, when the green things pop up we gotta collect as many as possible, alright?” Mark nodded, preparing himself.

 

The button faded away and white text appeared in place of it: _(You called for help…)_

 

_(...)_

 

A sinister giggle echoed around them. Jack’s smile dropped.

 

_(...)_

 

_BUT NOBODY CAME._

 

Flowey laughed as the words reverberated around the room. Jack slowly stepped backwards, away from his failed attempt at help. One of the vines lowered, a person gripped in its clutches.

 

Jack heard Mark mumble beside him. “Oh no…”

 

“Toriel!” Jack yelled frantically. He reached to grab her, hoping somehow that he could pull her from the vines.

 

A loud _CRACK_ resounded and everything fell completely silent. A large dark slash severed Toriel in two, her eyes wide with fear. The numbers **_999999_ ** hovered in red around her. Jack’s heart broke, and his jaw dropped.

 

“NO!”

 

The only sound came from Toriel’s body as it slowly dissolved away into nothing.

 

“FLOWEY YOU MOTHER FUCKER!” Jack screamed into the silence up at the creature above him. He knew this was just part of the game, but he was _pissed_.

 

When Toriel was finally swept away into the darkness, the laughter returned in full force, nearly causing Jack to pull the headphones from his head. The large pink maw that hung under the TV screen began to glow, and Flowey aimed it right for them.

 

“Fuck, he’s gonna shoot at us,” Mark stated grimly. Jack groaned.

 

“Goddamnit! What do we do!?” Jack yelled, mainly at himself. He was so lost. This wasn’t normal. Jack watched the void behind the teeth glow brighter as his lazer charged. Jack felt a shock wave from the explosion rip down and he covered his head on instinct to shield himself from the blast.

 

…

 

Silence.

 

The sounds had died once again, but this time there was a definite end. Jack opened his eyes to see only blackness, the receding echo of Flowey’s laughter still hung in his ears.

 

“...Is that it?”

 

“Well good fucking god, that was bizarre,” Mark said next to him. Jack lifted his headset from his face, blinking at the light and letting his eyes adjust. He took a deep breath and smiled at Mark, who had also lifted his headset from his eyes for a break.

 

“ _That_ was intense. That definitely wasn’t part of tha game originally. Flowey is one screwed up bastard.” Jack said, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. “There was literally nothin’ we could do! He fucking killed Toriel!”

 

“The souls weren’t there to help this time,” Mark reflected.

 

“That was just an execution. Damn, dude.” Jack shook his head, trying to calm his nerves. He didn’t dare admit it, but that truly freaked him out.

 

Mark was watching him and smirked. “That scare you? You becoming a big bubble blowing baby, too?”

 

Jack scoffed and puffed his chest out. “I know what I’m doin’ when it comes ta Undertale. I can handle Flowey.” Jack sighed and put down his headset. “I think I need a break though.”

 

“Me too, I’m starving.” Mark turned to the camera still recording the two of them. “Hope you guys enjoyed that!”

 

Jack whirled around and faced the camera, completely forgetting this whole thing was recorded. “Oh yeah! Thank you guys so much for watching this episode, if you liked it…” Jack turned to look at Mark, holding up his fist. “PUNCH that like button, in the face–” He fake punched Mark in the face who pretended to get knocked back by the force. “–like a BOSS, and high fives all around... WAPSH, WAPSH. But thank you guys and we’ll see all you dudes, in the next video!” Jack finished off in his high pitched voice, pointing towards the ceiling. Mark waved behind him, then proceeded to poke Jack in the side, making him yelp and drop his arms down. He slapped Mark’s shoulder in protest.

 

Mark chuckled and set his controllers and headset down on the table, moving to go check the recording. “Pizza?”

  
Jack’s stomach growled at the mention of pure heaven. “Yes _please._ ”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahhh! I am absolute Undertale trash, I love that game to bits. Obviously Undertale wouldn't actually be a cool VR game, but I really wanted to write Jack super excited about it and Mark just so "ugh" about it, haha. 
> 
> Fun Fact #4: The theme music to keep me in the Undertale mood are the Undertale Dual Mixes by iwannabethecollector on YouTube. If you love the Undertale soundtrack, you'll love these remixes :) I have the playlist saved on my phone. I listened to this a lot when writing this chapter :P Highly recommend. Megalovania, Battle Against a True Hero, and Hopes and Dreams/SAVE The World/His Theme dual mixes are my totes favorites. Let me know if you listen!
> 
> Undertale Dual Mixes – iwannabethecollector  
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD90pe4VKFO8RBQdZnYYXEOgBV4F0cr6R
> 
> Fun Fact #5: I actually had to go back and rewrite most of this chapter. I originally wrote this in September last year, and at the time Mark had barely started the game and had no plans to finish it. So, when he and Tyler decided to go on their Undertale livestream adventure in October, I was like FUCKKK... lol but now it's all updated! So it worked out.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of filler to break up all the excitement :P

Jack gulped down the rest of his water, his belly happily full with an empty Dominos box sitting near him on a side table. Mark hummed as he took the last bite of his pizza crust. Ethan had had his fill a while ago, sipping on a Sprite while browsing his phone. Tyler wasn’t back yet, but there was an uneaten meat lovers inside waiting for him.

 

They sat outside, soaking in the warm California night air. Chica laid sprawled out on her side near Mark’s chair, who absentmindedly reached down to pet his favorite pup (and drop a small piece of leftover crust for her).

 

They chatted about new games coming out soon, Jack particularly eager for The Last Guardian, Ethan sharing the sentiment. It’s been a long seven years and he could hardly contain his excitement.

 

Ethan laughed at a teasing comment Mark made about Jack’s giddy nature over the game when Jack pulled out his phone to check his notifications. He had shared a photo on his Instagram of the Domino’s box with the title “Doesn’t matter what country you’re in, pizza will always be best!” So naturally his phone was blowing up.

 

One notification was from his Mail app, however. His smile faltered.

 

He ignored it, clearing the list and tossing his phone on the side table. He wasn’t going to deal with that right now.

 

“...days of Christmas videos.”

 

“That’s gonna be a lot of eggs,” Ethan said.

 

“What? Eggs?” Jack asked, pulling himself out of his own thoughts.

 

Ethan chuckled. “Mark has an idea for a twelve Days of Christmas video.”

 

“What do eggs hafta do with it?” Jack asked, confused.

 

“They’re gonna smash them on me. _Three fresh eggs!_ ” Mark sang in tune to the famous Christmas song.

 

“Ohhh,” Jack said in understanding. “Only if you’re dressed like a girl.”

 

Mark pointed at him as his pocket dinged. “Deal.” Jack laughed at the thought, watching Mark pull his phone out of his pocket. His laughter quickly died.

 

“Oh, Cal just emailed me.”

 

Fuck…

 

“He asked me how the game was going. Weird! How’d he know we just got done?” Mark chuckled, his thumbs flying away on the keyboard. _How is he not bothered by it…? Maybe I really am just overthinking the whole thing._

 

“W-what are ya saying?” Jack asked, hating how hesitant he sounded. Mark didn’t seem to pick up on it.

 

“Saying the multiplayer aspect is super fun, there’s a couple things that could be improved upon, and if it really is just a demo reel or if there will be some original content. Did he email you, too?” Mark asked, looking up.

 

Jack quickly shook his head. “No.” He hated lying, but something in him didn’t want to admit anything.

 

Mark’s gaze lingered on him for a short moment, making Jack shift in his seat. “Huh.” He returned to his phone, finished typing and hit send. “Well I figured we could play some more of it tomorrow morning, and then hit up Bob and Wade sometime around two or three? We could play GTA5!” Mark suggested, smiling. “Ethan, do you want to join?”

 

“Hell yeah!”

 

Before Jack could respond, Mark’s phone lit up. Mark picked it up and chuckled. “This guy is fast.”

 

“This is the guy who made that VR game you guys played today, right?” Ethan asked sitting up in his chair. “Is it any good?”

 

“Oh yeah, it’s awesome,” Mark said, looking at Jack to comment.

 

Jack stumbled over his words a small bit. “Oh, ya, the multiplayer, it’s good, we had fun.”

 

Mark resumed typing up a reply, Jack watching anxiously. His eyes glanced to his own phone, which remained dark.

 

“Can I try it when you guys are done?” Ethan asked excitedly.

 

“Of course, yeah,” Mark replied, reading what was on his screen. “He said to expect some surprises influenced by other games, stuff we won’t see coming. Oooh, so ominous!”

 

Jack forced himself to laugh along with Mark at that comment, attempting to give off the impression that everything was normal and he was most definitely not freaking out on the inside, nope.

 

“Can’t wait ta see what that’s all about!” Jack said, standing up and gathering up their trash and empty cups.

 

“Oh Jack, you don’t have to–”

 

Jack waved Mark off. “Shush, relax, it’s tha least I could do for letting me stay here again.” He gave Mark and Ethan a cheesy smile, grabbing the pizza box and heading inside. As soon as he was out of sight, his smile disappeared. If he was honest with himself it was more to keep himself busy and drop the conversation, but there was a part of him that held a lot of gratitude for Mark’s hospitality.

 

As he washed the cups by hand (knowing there was a dishwasher but ignoring that fact because reasons), he heard claws pad across the kitchen floor in his direction. He dropped his right hand down and felt a cold nose nudging his fingers, making him smile. He finished rinsing one handed while giving Chica gentle head strokes.

 

The sliding door shut behind him as he dried and put and put away the dishes, hoping to everything that existed that Mark wouldn’t ask him what was wrong. He didn’t even know himself.

 

“Hey Jack…”

No no _no!_

 

“Y-yeah?” Jack turned around, a forced smile on his face.

 

Mark stood by the fridge, watching him closely like he had been just a few minutes earlier. Jack waited, shoulders back and chest out, ready to deflect whatever question he had for him.

 

Something clicked in Mark’s demeanor, his face softening with a warm smile. He opened the freezer and pulled out a round tub. “Want some ice cream?”

 

“I–yeah,” Jack said, slightly startled. He chuckled, mostly at himself for being ridiculous. “Duh, who tha fuck do ya think I am?”

 

Mark’s face went serious. “Are you not Jacksepticeye?”

 

Jack snorted and covered his right eye, changing his voice to sound dark and pitchy. “No, Jack’s gone, this is _Anti._ ”

 

Mark groaned, acting annoyed. “Ugh, fuck. Well, do _you_ like ice cream? Cause I want ice cream.”

 

Jack chuckled and reverted back to his normal voice. “Yeah, yeah. Bowls?”

 

He shook his head. “Fuck it, just grab some spoons, we’ll eat out of the tub like real men!”

 

Jack turned and found the silverware drawer, pulling three utensils out. “Dang, pizza _and_ ice cream? Man after me own heart!” Jack held the spoons to his chest like a high school girl talking about her crush, fluttering his eyelids with a dopey smile on his face.

 

Mark gagged, his hand flying to his mouth. “Oh no, don’t _ever_ do that again.”

 

Jack gasped dramatically, fake hurt. “Rude! I never want to see you again!”

 

The American rolled his eyes, turning to head towards the living room. “Good, but after ice cream. Hurry the fuck up, Jesus.” Jack dropped the act and laughed, followed close behind with Chica at his heels.

 

“ETHAN!”

  
  


* * *

  
  
  


Jack yawned in between coffee gulps, waiting for Mark to set up the recording again. He sat in the chair, legs crossed with a mug in his left hand and phone in the other, scrolling through Tumblr.

 

It was early the next morning. The duo decided the night before to get an early start and bust out as much of the game as possible before they switched gears to play with Bob and Wade.

 

Jack downed the rest of the contents of his mug, smacking his lips. “I’m gonna go get a refill, want some?”

 

Mark shook his head as he adjusted the camera. “Nah I’m caffeinated enough, you go ahead.”

 

“Mmkay.” Jack stood and made his way to the kitchen, suppressing another yawn. He dropped his phone on the counter while he poured himself a fresh cup of warm coffee. He hummed happily as he held the mug with both hands, loving the warmth on his fingers.

 

He took a sip, noticing his phone light up out of the corner of his eye. Jack glanced down and saw the words “ _We hope you have a worthwhile experience today.”_ He was confused until he saw the sender and suddenly the coffee he was drinking was no longer wanted.

 

Jack opened up Cal’s latest email, having ignored the last three from the previous night. In the body of the email were only two words: _Good luck._

 

Jack furrowed his eyebrows, getting annoyed by this guy, and in extension, the game. Hopefully after today they don’t have to play any more Sudden Fucking Reality.

 

He dumped the contents of his mug down the drain, no longer craving the earthy liquid. Leaving the container in the sink, he meandered back to the recording room, shoving his phone in his pocket.

 

Mark glanced up as he entered, noting his empty hands. “Changed your mind?”

 

“There wasn’t much left,” Jack lied and sat down. “Ya ready yet?”

 

Mark nodded, walking over and handing Jack his headset and controllers. “Yeah, just check it out for me and I’ll make sure it’s recording properly.” Mark took out his phone and started typing, slowly walking back to the computer.

 

Jack stood and pulled on the headset over his eyes, hooking the controllers around his wrists. He moved to the middle of the room and glanced around the familiar menu screen, reaching out to knock over a few digital mugs. “Seems fine ta me.”

 

“Good,” he heard Mark say. Jack lifted the headset to see that he was still on his phone.

 

“Cmonnnnn!” Jack whined, making Mark look up.

 

He smirked and went back to his phone. “Hold on you Irish ass, I’m talking to Bob and Wade. They said they would be ready around two. I figured we could grab lunch before then and then Skype, yeah?”

 

“Oh yeh, tell ‘em hi!”

 

“Tell them yourself, you’ll see them anyway,” Mark teased and moved to turn on the camera. Jack rolled his eyes.

 

After making sure everything was in frame, Mark started the recording and grabbed his own equipment. He made sure the two player was working and booted up the game. He pulled up the headset to look at Jack. “Me go?”

 

“You go.” Jack gave Mark center stage as he readied himself for his intro.

 

Deep breath, then: “Hello everybody, my name is Markiplier and welcome back to Sudden Reality!” Mark waved at the camera with his controllers. “Jack still hasn’t left yet so we’re gonna play some more of this game.”

 

Jack leaned in and whispered loudly, “The American’s have trapped me here! They won’t let me leave, HELP ME!”

 

“Trust me, you can leave anytime you want to,” Mark sneered.

 

Jack pulled his headset back over his eyes, sticking his tongue out at Mark. “Ready?”

 

“Bring it!” Mark said enthusiastically. Jack grinned and hit “Continue” on the menu. Despite his earlier apprehensions, he decided to just have fun with the game. It honestly wasn’t too bad, and he did have fun. He was pumped and ready.

 

As the new scenery loaded, Jack heard Mark start chuckling darkly.

  
“Oh ho, _yes._ ”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaand a little bit of a cliff hanger! Woo!
> 
> Fun Fact #6: Every time I try to write Mark's intro, in my brain I only hear baby Mark, not current Mark. Cause the way he's said his intro has evolved over the years, same with Jack, but for some reason I can only hear baby faced Mark in my head xD 
> 
> Any guess what the next game would be? I gave you literally no clues but I'm curious if you can guess it :P


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a super busy Saturday ahead of me so, enjoy this chapter a little early! :)

The two gamers stood outside the establishment of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. Mark was grinning like an idiot as he looked up at the glowing sign. Now this was _his_ territory.

 

“Now this is _my_ territory,” he said, sharing exactly what he was thinking.

 

“The King has arrived at last,” Jack laughed.

 

Mark chuckled and looked at Jack’s character. He immediately noticed the new blue security guard uniform he was wearing. Mark looked down at himself and realized he was wearing the same thing.

 

“Hey! We match!”

 

Jack looked from the building over at him, then down at himself. “Nice! I’ve always wanted ta wear one of these.”

 

The building looked almost like a Chuck E Cheese shoved into an old warehouse. The sign above featured Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy all smiling happily, the glow illuminating the entrance below. The place looked deserted...but of course, the security guards had to report for duty!

 

“Yeh, this is definitely creepy,” Jack commented, staring up at the glowing sign.

 

“Never seen it from the outside before. Let’s go in!” Mark warped himself over to the front door and jiggled the handle unsuccessfully. “Wha…? What the hell! Is there a side door somewhere?” He asked, looking around wildly.

 

He stopped when heard Jack laugh from behind him. “Hang on ya silly, ya got the keys!” Jack warped over, reached behind him and held up a keyring in front of Mark’s face. One large one stood out from the rest and had “master” scrawled on the side. Mark grabbed it and shoved the keys at the door handle haphazardly, which then made a clicking sound and the keys disappeared. ‘Cause, yknow, video game logic.

 

Mark decided he wanted the classy entrance. He kicked the door open and shouted “Freddy, I’m home!” with his arms open wide. Jack laughed loudly behind him.

 

The two entered the small entryway with a welcome desk where patrons could get info or book a party. On the wall behind the desk a smiling cartoon Freddy and Bonnie stood next to a price chart for pizza party packages. Chica was on the other side showcasing cupcake options for birthdays while an image of Foxy hung from the top with a shiny pirate hook over the entire display. Mark smirked at the ironic imagery, flashbacks of Mangle going through his mind.

 

The entire floor was an array of black and white tiles while reflective foil stars hung from the ceiling. “Well hell, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say this was a wholesome family establishment and not full of creepy murderous smelly animatronics and face biting friends,” Mark said sarcastically.

 

On either side of the desk were hallways that lead to the dining area. Jack moved towards the right side and peered down. He gestured towards something right on the inside.

 

“Check that out, Mark. I think I found where we need ta go.”

 

Mark moved next to Jack’s character and peered around the corner. It was a large metal door with SECURITY spelled out in big peeling letters. A one way mirror sat next to it.

 

“The closest I’ve been to walking around Freddy Fazbear’s was in the gmod simulator I played with you, Bob, and Wade but this game is almost believable,” Mark said to Jack as he attempted to peer into the window.

 

“Right? This is insanely good quality… what’s this thingy?” Jack pointed to a rectangular strip on the side of the door.

 

“That looks like something you scan a badge on… I bet that opens the door.” Mark said thoughtfully, and looking around his uniform. “I don’t have a badge though.”

 

Jack’s character looked around himself then shrugged. “Neither do I.”

 

“My video game senses say there’s gotta be a badge around here somewhere. So...let’s explore!” Mark glanced up in the corner and noticed a camera staring down at them both. He grinned. “‘Cause I can guarantee you’re right, this is where we need to go.”

 

The hallway walls were lined with checkered patterns, various posters that said “Party Time!” and “Celebrate!” with the foil stars continuing all the way into the next room. Mark and Jack warped through until they reached the dining hall. Old birthday decorations littered the kids’ tables and party hats were strewn everywhere. Double doors lead to the kitchen just to the right of them. A counter occupied the back area where parents could order their screaming kids pizza and cupcakes. The show stage sat empty at the opposite end of the room.

 

“I wouldn’t bring my kids here,” Jack said as he looked around at the mess. “Don’t you guys actually have somethin’ like this in America?”

 

Mark nodded, picking up a party hat from a nearby table. “Yeah, it’s called Chuck E Cheese. No, I won’t take you there.”

 

Jack chuckled. “Is there one in LA, really?”

 

“Yeah, like three. Weird shit happens at Chuck E Cheeses, like some guy killed four of his coworkers after he got fired? Not in LA, at a different one, but still.” Mark set the party hat down and worked his way towards the stage area. “A grandma got beaten and choked when she took her grandkids to one. Two kids did heroin in the bathroom. One girl almost got raped...So, y’know, a wholesome family establishment.”

 

“Seriously? Jesus Christ... Do they have animatronics too?” Jack asked, following Mark to the front.

 

“Some do yeah. They’re fuckin’ creepy, they have a whole band. Just like our lovely friends here,” Mark said with a flourish, gesturing to the empty stage. “...somewhere.”

 

“Uh, yeah, no thanks,” Jack chuckled. “I’d rather go to Disneyland.”

 

“Now _that_ I would much rather go to,” Mark smiled at Jack, then turned his attention to the empty room. “Okay where the hell are these guys, their king needs to meet his subjects.”

 

“Foxy should be in here, shouldn’t he?” Jack asked. He glanced around and spotted a separate area on the other end. There was a closed purple curtain decorated with stars with a wooden _Sorry! Out of Order_ sign standing in front of it. Jack pointed in its direction. “Yep, right there.”

 

Mark was already making his way over before Jack finished talking. “Foxyyy!” Mark sang as he danced over to the curtain. He peered through the crack into the darkness, catching sight of a gleaming pirate hook. A chill ran up Mark’s spine.

 

“Is he in there?” Jack asked, appearing next to him.

 

“Oh yeah, he’s in there.” Mark pulled open the curtain a small bit, revealing an unmoving fox-like creature, his one unpatched eye staring off into nothing. “Hello you pirate bastard.”

 

“Oh that’s _so_ creepy!” Jack whined. “It’s so much different when you’re walkin’ around instead of sittin’ in a room. I dunno which is worse.”

 

Mark let the curtain fall closed and turned around, noting the entrance to the other hallway, knowing the supply closet was not far. He grinned. “Wanna go say hi to Freddy? Or Bon-Bon?” Mark moved towards the hall. Jack groaned uncomfortably but followed anyway.

 

“Imagine if we were playing Sister Location, though,” Mark said in a low voice.

 

“Oh man, ‘n get scooped? That’d be horrible.”

 

“Or being stuck in the springlock suit?” Mark maniacally giggled to himself as they reached the supply closet. Jack shivered.

 

“That just makes ma skin crawl, no bloody thank you.”

 

Mark snickered as he opened the supply door and said “Ennard could wear you as a suit. That’d be an ugly fucking suit.” Jack laughed at that. As expected, the supply room was pitch black inside, but the light from the hallway illuminated at least one smiling figure. “Hello Freddy.” Mark could almost smell the stench the animatronics gave off: blood, mucus, and something musty. Behind Freddy was Chica with her “LET’S EAT” bib and Bonnie with his banjo. The three stood dark and lifeless, smiles built into their faces and staring at nothing.

 

Mark moved into the room and peered into Freddy’s eyes. Part of him felt like he was doing something very wrong and he shouldn’t be in there, but his curiosity always got the best of him.

 

“They look so _weird_ ,” Jack said. Mark looked over to see his character poking at Bonnie’s banjo. “Tha detail is incredible though. I’m impressed.”

 

“Yeah, I can almost smell the mucus. This game is very immersive.” Mark noted that it was dead silent, which only added to the eerieness of the building. He moved around the room cautiously, examining the spare animatronic parts and pieces on the shelves. When he reached the other end of the room,  the back of his neck prickled as he felt eyes watching him. Quickly he spun around to stare at the robots. They stood still, having not moved from their original position, although Mark swore Freddy’s eyes were on him when they weren’t before.

 

Also, Jack wasn’t in the room anymore.

 

“Jack?” Mark asked slowly.

 

“Yeah?” He heard Jack say right next to him, making Mark jump. He forgot that they were in a virtual reality environment and that his friend was roaming in the same room as him and cursed himself for his own stupidity.

 

“Where’d you go?” Mark asked attempting to hide the irritation in his own voice. He left the room and shut the door behind him, wishing he could lock it. Not that it would do anything other than make him feel better.

 

“I went down the hall, c’mere!” Mark saw Jack’s character poke his head out from a room further down the hallway where a light illuminated the corridor. “The other security office door was open.”

 

Mark warped his way towards the open security door. He stepped inside and smiled as he looked around the room. “This is so cool!”  He felt like he was right back in the first game. Posters, drawings, and various other pieces of paper littered the walls. A few screens and monitors scattered the too-small desk, and a small black fan whirred right in the middle competing for space with the old soda cups, random papers, and all kinds of trash covering the surface. An old phone sat tucked away behind one of the screens. The room was cramped and dimly lit, the only light source from a single bulb hanging from the ceiling.

 

“Jaysus,” Jack said perturbed as he looked around. “This is just miserable.”

 

“Part of the charm.” Mark noticed a power gauge on one of the monitors. It was raised to yellow, and a small _99%_ was displayed next to it. He glanced up at the opposing closed door that Jack was standing next to. “Jack, hit that top button next to the door.”

 

Jack turned around and did just that, the door in front of him slamming upward and revealing the dark hallway beyond. “Oh, so there’s that.”

 

Mark turned around to his own door. The same set of unmarked buttons were mirrored on his side. He tapped the bottom button and the light in the hallway turned off, blanketing it in pure darkness. The power gauge on the monitor was now lowered to green. Mark smirked. “Cool.”

 

“Well hey, look at this!” Jack said excitedly. He reached behind one of the monitors and lifted up a small dinged up digital clock. The time read 11:50. “What do ya think happens when it reaches midnight?”

 

“Maybe Freddy will come out to play.” Mark rubbed his hands together and giggled darkly. He moved over to the desk and examined the monitors. They stayed blank aside from the power gauge. Looking around, Mark spotted a small very old switchboard hooked up to one of the monitors on the desk. It had fifteen square buttons lined up on the interface, but only eleven of them looked used. Mark leaned in closer and noticed that the eleven buttons used to have sharpie written identifiers on top, but repeated use had wore them out and were now unreadable. A small haphazardly placed faded label with the word CAMERAS was placed at the top. “Is this how the cameras are supposed to work? With a shitty switchboard?”

 

Jack appeared next to him and peered over his shoulder. “Let’s see!” He reached over and hit the first button in the top left, it lighting up faintly. The monitor with the power gauge flickered awake, displaying a static filled grayscale view of the stage area. The words CAM 1A SHOW STAGE in all white text displayed at the top left. Jack could barely contain his excitement. “Looks like it. What a cool way to implement that though! It’s really cool.” Jack hit the next one and the image changed to CAM 1B DINING AREA. The button for the first popped out and went dark as the second one illuminated. The power gauge was raised a couple bars into the yellow.

 

Mark continued to cycle through the cameras on the switchboard as Jack wandered around the room, commenting on some neat easter eggs and creepy imagery to the viewers. Jack circled back to the desk and was pleased to find he could pick up the fan. “Hey Mark...did ya know? I’m a huge FAN of you!” Jack laughed, shoving the black object into Mark’s face.

 

Mark looked personally offended at the horrible pun. “How dare you say such words to me!” He picked up an empty cup and hurled it at Jack’s character, who yelped and instinctively covered his face.

 

“Dude!” Jack grabbed a wadded up piece of paper and threw it back, eliciting a giggle out of Mark. The two began a...trash ball fight? Trash war? Whatever, the point was Jack was going _down_.

 

A noise rang out that immediately stopped their shenanigans and they stood stock still. By rang out, I literally mean rang out.

 

The phone was ringing.

 

Mark glanced to the clock Jack had found earlier. It said 12:00.

 

Suddenly the ringing stopped as if someone picked up the line. Mark knew what that meant.

 

“Oh shit…”

  
_“Hello? Hello hello?”_

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congrats to those who guessed the next game correctly xD I suppose it wasn't too much of a leap, considering who the "King" is :P
> 
> Those Chuck E Cheese crimes are real by the way, I did some Google searching. Also, there's no logical layout to Freddy Fazbears, I did a lot of improvising lol
> 
> AND WHO ELSE IS OBSESSED WITH MARK'S CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE DATE VIDEO?! That's easily one of the best things he's ever done on his channel. omg. I spent an entire hour getting every ending and rewatching certain parts. Yaaaaas just YAAAS


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to put this with the last chapter, but if you guys haven't heard Nathan Sharp's FNAF music, then holy shit you need to. It was the perfect music to listen to when writing these chapters :) I'll link you guys after the chapter if you're interested.

“Oh _what!_ ” Jack excitedly scrambled over to the phone and brought it out from behind the monitor, the guy talking away on the speaker.

 

_“I uh, I wanted to record a message for you to help you get settled on your first night…”_

 

Mark smirked and moved toward the phone, listening to the message he’s heard countless times.

 

_“Um, I actually worked in that office before you. I'm finishing up my last week now, as a matter of fact.”_

 

“Whatever, purple guy!” Mark yelled at the phone, talking over purple guy’s voice. Mark knew full well what was in store for that guy at this point in the FNAF timeline.

 

“So do we need ta survive five nights? How are we gonna do that?” Jack asked Mark as he warped over to peek down the hallway. “You’re better at this shit than I am.”

 

“Damn straight. I am the KING. _OF FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDYS!_ ” Mark yelled in his favorite geek voice.

 

“Ya we know! Shuttup!” Jack chuckled. Purple guy was still talking over the phone.

 

_“...do fine. So, let's just focus on getting you through your first week. Okay?”_

 

“Can we skip this part? He goes on forever on the first night,” Mark said, moving to the phone. As he extended his fingers to hang it up, purple guy said something that made Mark stop.

 

_“...but this isn’t actually your first week, is it?”_

 

“Well that’s different,” Mark said quietly, now listening intently.

 

_“Ah, we’ve hired a couple experienced night guards this time. You both know exactly what you’re doing.”_

 

“I never know what I’m doing.” Mark couldn’t help but chuckle at himself.

 

“The game must know when two people are playin’,” Jack observed from his place at the doorway. “That’s kinda cool.”

 

_“Sean, Mark, glad you could join us.”_

 

Jack and Mark both fell silent. _That’s just creepy…_ Mark thought.

 

“Nice,” Jack whispered with wonder. He loved shit like this.

 

The voice sounded different, Mark noticed. This wasn’t the usual purple guy anymore.

 

_“We are so excited that you are playing our game.”_

 

Mark’s eyes went wide, staring heavily at the phone. “What…?” he whispered.

 

Jack didn’t say a word. That was odd.

 

_“Since you are both seasoned players to this particular world, we won’t keep you much longer.”_

 

Yeah that definitely wasn’t purple guy, Mark thought.

 

 _“In fact, we’ll stick to one night. Good luck.”_ With that, the phone went dead.

 

“One night?” Mark asked, confused. “What do you mean one night?!” Jack remained silent, not having any comment on the matter.

 

Something scurried down the left hallway, making Mark freeze. Jack, who was still in the doorway, jumped and warped into the room next to the cameras.

 

“Tha fuck was that?” Jack whispered.

 

Mark warped next to him and pressed some buttons until the room he was looking for showed up on the monitor. He let out a painful laugh. “Well we’re fucked. They’re all gone already.”

 

“What about Pirate’s Cove?” Jack asked hesitantly. Mark pressed the corresponding button, revealing the fox halfway through the curtain. Mark swore.

 

A metallic shuffle sounded from the right side this time. Mark warped over and pressed the light to illuminate the hallway. No one was there, but he thought he could see a dark shape at the far end where the light didn’t reach.

 

“Chicaaa,” Mark sang into the darkness. Jack shushed him violently.

 

“What are ya _doing!?_ ”

 

Mark glanced at Jack. “Being polite!” He looked back out of the doorway, but the dark shape in the distance was gone. “Welp, bye Chica.” He heard the sound of a metal pot hitting the ground echoing in the distance. Mark couldn’t help but chuckle. “I think someone’s in the kitchen.”

 

“Oh god,” Jack panicked. Mark heard heavy footsteps echoing in the hallway, and Jack quickly warped to the door to slam it shut just in time for a chorus of banging from the other side.

 

“Foxy?”

 

“Yeh…” Jack said, peeking out the window. “I looked at tha camera n’ Pirate Cove was empty. Did he always come out that early?”

 

“I think they fast forwarded us to the fifth night,” Mark guessed. It was the only reason that explained why the animatronics were suddenly so active. He warped back into the room and stood next to the switchboard. He looked at the monitor, noticing the power gauge now said 75%. He cringed. It was barely 1am already, even though it only felt like five minutes. _Cause time fast forwards in video games_ , he had to remind himself. “And if it _is_ the fifth night then we are doing very bad on power.”

 

Jack quickly opened the door to relieve some of the power usage, only to scream “JESUS FUCKING CHRIST” and shut it again. “Bonnie, you fuck! Get out of here!” Jack screamed through the door. He turned to Mark. “This shit is creepy as fuck, bro. I don’t like real life animatronics.”

 

“Me either,” Mark muttered. Low derpy laughter echoed down the right hallway, making Mark look up. Freddy was coming. He warped over and without looking out the doorway smashed the close button.

 

“We’re never gonna make it if we keep shutting these doors,” Jack said from the window. “Bonnie’s gone by the way.” He reached over and opened the door again, letting out a nervous breath he had apparently been holding. “Are ya watchin’ the cameras for Foxy?”

 

“Uh no, I’m a little busy,” Mark quipped, opening his door to the empty hallway.

 

Jack rolled his eyes and warped back over to the monitors to check. He groaned. “He’s already almost out again.”

 

Mark frowned. Suddenly a sharp metal something scraped against tile sounded right next to him. He yelped, every hair on his body standing up at the sound. He instinctively reached his arm out to hit a button, hitting the light instead of the door. Chica’s large paint chipped beak illuminated a foot from Mark’s face, her jaw opening in a clanky metal grind revealing horrific looking teeth. Mark’s yelp turned into a scream, scrambling to hit the correct button. The door slammed in her face, knocking back her beak, causing it to scrape along the other side of the door. Mark stumbled backward in real life, tripping over his feet into the wall. He breathed heavily, holding back a giggle at just how badly that frightened him.

 

“Jesus Christ man!” Jack yelled, startled by his outburst. “Are you okay?!”

 

“Yep! Just dumb. Forgot there are walls IRL,” Mark chuckled, reorienting himself to the middle of the room. “Chica is horrifying up close.”

 

The two took turns checking the cameras and closing the doors, making sure to stay inside the security office. Foxy ran down the hallway once more. Chica hovered at the end of the hallway while Bonnie said hello at the doorway a couple more times, much to Jack’s distaste. Freddy, however, had yet to make an official appearance.

 

The time ticked away, their power quickly dwindling. By the time it reached 5am, they had five percent power left. Jack currently had his door closed, cursing at Bonnie through the door. The animatronic didn’t seem to want to move. Chica was nowhere in sight.

 

“We’re _so_ going to lose,” Jack groaned, moving to the cameras to check on Foxy since he couldn’t open his door. Their power was going down very quickly.

 

Four percent.

 

Mark heard a shuffle down his hallway and sighed. “NO, Chica, stay the fuck away!”

 

Jack looked out his window. “Fer fooks sake, Bonnie!”

 

Three percent.

 

“What’s tha game plan if tha place shuts down?” Jack asked, facing away from the door.

 

Mark was glaring at the silhouette of Chica, hoping she wouldn’t come towards them. He thought about their options. Maybe they could do something else instead of just _die_. He risked looking away from Chica in the other direction and noticed the entryway where they came in. An idea struck him. “Maybe we try to escape.”

 

Two percent.

 

“Wha? Can we do that?”

 

“Why else are we allowed to roam this place freely?” Mark suggested.

 

Jack considered that thought for a moment.

 

One percent.

 

“I’m down,” Jack shrugged, and looked at the monitor. “We’re about ta die anyw–” Jack’s door shot open suddenly as the power gauge reached zero.

 

Darkness.

 

“...way,” Jack finished hesitantly. Everything shut down as the blackness enveloped them. The silence that followed was deafening. Mark could only make out the outlines of the desk, monitor, and doorways. He noticed Jack’s character shape moving away from the door.

 

“Somethin’s there,” Jack whispered.

 

The familiar jingle of Freddy’s song filled the room, making every hair on the back of Mark’s neck stand up. Eyes in the doorway glowed and flickered. Instead of hovering in the doorway however, Freddy Fazbear slowly entered the room with a heavy sound of grinding gears. Mark felt like he could smell the mechanical stench he gave off. Maybe it was just his nerves.

 

“Heyyy Freddy,” Mark greeted.

 

“How’s it goin, buddy?” Jack laughed nervously.

 

Freddy’s song continued as he moved towards them, until he came to a stuttering stop and the music silenced, his eyes going dark.

 

“Uh…” Mark quickly glanced behind them and warped into the hallway away from Freddy. “Jack, come in here!”

 

Jack looked behind him and followed just as Freddy turned back on, his eyes glowing brighter than before, and lunged at the spot they were just standing.

 

“Whoa, fuck!” Jack yelled, startled.

 

Mark turned and warped into the entryway, adrenaline filling his veins. Thankfully, Jack got the idea and followed. Freddy’s thunderous footsteps followed them into the room and stopped, his body moving up and down like he was... breathing…?

 

All the nerves in Mark’s body screamed _NOPE_.

 

As Mark turned to the front entry to open it, his vision glitched. Images of newspaper clippings and random photos of kids flashed in front of his eyes. Then an image of Golden Freddy intertwined itself with the kids, the text “IT’S ME” flashing repeatedly.

 

“Wow, fuck you Freddy!” Mark blinked and shook his head, staggering, trying to find the doorway through is glitching vision. He heard the heavy metal footsteps behind him and a nervous Jack next to him.

 

“Open the fuckin’ door!” Jack yelled frantically.

 

The both of them managed to grab a handle and push the door open, Mark falling forward in real life (“Shit, FUCK!”) tumbling to his elbows. _Why the hell do I keep FALLING?!_ He thought angrily.

 

His vision cleared, albeit a little weird from his place on the floor, but Golden Freddy wasn’t assaulting his eyeballs anymore. He heard the slam of a wooden door shutting behind him.

 

_Wooden door…?_

 

“Wait, tha fuck, where are we?” Jack asked, who was still standing. Mark looked up, expecting to see digital asphalt or the Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza sign glowing above them. He was surprised to find that they were in a narrow dimly lit hallway with wooden floors and various picture frames on the wall. A tall dark window sat at the far end wall where the hallway cornered to the right to somewhere unknown.

 

“What…” Mark muttered in wonder. He turned around to see said wooden door, _not_ the pizza establishment’s glass entryway. Out of instinct, he reached for the handle, even though something in him already knew it was locked. When the door didn’t budge, he turned around and faced Jack. “Whoa, you’re different.” Jack wasn’t wearing the security uniform anymore. He was wearing the blue hoodie and ripped jeans he had chosen when they created their characters. Mark looked down at himself, remembering the pink shirt and dark jeans he himself chose.

 

“Hang on…” Mark lifted his headset, blinking at the bright light in the recording room. He walked off camera to the computer. Sure enough, everything was still recording just fine. The game was still launched. They were still playing.

 

Shrugging, Mark returned and put the headset back on. “Sorry, I wanted to make sure we were still in the same game. Ethan, cut that part out!”

 

Jack chuckled. “Do ya even own any other games for this thing?”

 

Mark paused. “...No…well fuck, now I look stupid.”

 

“Always, buddy,” Jack said forlornly, making his character digitally pat the other’s shoulder.

 

Mark looked down the hallway again, familiarity nagging at the back of his mind, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. “Do you know what this is?”

 

“I’ve seen it before, I just don’t know where,” responded Jack who sounded puzzled.

 

“Wanna end the episode here and pick right back up?”

 

“Fuck yeah, I wanna figure this shit out!” Jack said with newfound enthusiasm.

 

Mark smiled and removed his headset, smiling at the camera. “Five Nights at Freddy’s in VR! That was awesome! And terrifying!”

 

“I loved that you could explore the place,” Jack added, having removed his own headset and grinning widely. “It was fuckin’ awesome!”

  
“Yeah, and I can’t wait to figure out what this new shit is. Don’t worry, we’re going to jump right back in for another video,” Mark promised to the camera, Jack giving a thumbs up in agreement. “So thank you everybody so much for watching, and as always, we’ll see YOU in the next video. Buh bye!”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Natewantstobattle - FNAF Songs Playlist  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJTmfIF4-Lw&list=PLY5f8vtstsfhn8dJdP8GTMLFWXN1Smpf9
> 
> "Nightmare" and "No More" are my favorites (but I love all of them honestly) BUT the BEST one is "Enjoy The Show" >:3  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4fRaNlL8mE  
> and NOT CAUSE I'M TOTALLY BIASED CAUSE JACK IS IN THE BEGINNING....but it's really good!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These next two chapters are gonna be really long.

Mark followed Jack as he inched down the hallway one small warp at a time in the digital world. Mark had quickly set up the next recording round, allowing Jack to start off the video with his own intro and continue playing ASAP. Jack was so into it that he had totally forgotten his apprehensions. The more he stared at the oddly realistic hallway, the more it nagged at him that he had been here before.

 

“I know this...fuck, why can’t I fuckin’ remember!”

 

A small alcove on the right revealed itself as they got closer. A small night stand with a radio sat on top was shoved in the corner. Some news station was playing quietly, but Jack wasn’t paying attention to that. “Good God there’s a lot of bottles around,” he said at the large pile of empty bottles scattering the floor, shards scattered this way and that. Jack shook his head in an attempt to shake off the severe déjà vu he was having. A medium sized fake plant sat opposite the night stand. Jack looked back over at the radio, the clock read 23:59. Then his mind clicked as he remembered, followed by a loud groan.

 

“Damnit...I remember what this is…” Jack sighed, looking at Mark’s character. “It’s P.T.”

 

Mark paused before letting out a loud chuckle and looking around. “Oh ho man, you’re right. We’re so fucked.”

 

Jack groaned again, but sporting a smile as he did so. Although he was dreading this, he was still excited. He directed his attention in what he hoped was the camera. “If you guys don’t remember, a couple years ago a demo was released fer a new Silent Hill game called P.T. and it was fuckin’ _amazin’_. But, unfortunately it was cancelled.” This demo was legit terrifying, and Jack was bummed he wasn’t able to find the ending.

 

“I was never able to finish this game,” Mark said, echoing Jack’s thoughts. “I looked up every walk through, every cheat, I shouted into the phone for twenty minutes, and I still couldn’t trigger the ending.”

 

“But this game got cancelled, why is this a feature in here?” Jack asked, curious. He was looking at all the photos, trying to decipher what he was seeing. His eyes fell on the mostly empty frame ( _“Oh, that picture’s missin’...”_ ) above the radio, which was repeating the same news story it was spewing earlier about the man murdering his family.

 

“It’s still one of the most popular horror demos out there,” Mark pointed out.

 

“True…”

 

They continued to move down the hallway to the second alcove on the left next to the window. Mark leaned down close to the phone and started shouting into it.

 

“ARE YOU GONNA WORK NOW YOU PIECE OF SHIT. HI HELLO WE’RE HERE, FUCKING DO SOMETHING, JESUS.”

 

Jack laughed and shook his head. “Calm down ya crazy, good lord. Didn’t realize how salty you were about it.”

 

“I tried _everything_ , I had recorded for _hours_ trying to make it work! Yeah I’m a little salty,” Mark admitted in frustration, crossing his arms in a huff.

 

“You’re such a baby,” Jack sneered, turning to look down the next hallway and grimaced. It was darker than the other hallway, but luckily the bathroom door wasn’t open yet. He didn’t want to go in there.

 

“Hellooo,” Mark called out, moving ahead of Jack. “Creepy lady woman, you heeere?”

 

“Mark, why ya gotta do that man,” Jack whined and followed.

 

As Jack walked by the bathroom door, something on the other side started banging on it. Jack couldn’t repeat the noise he made out of his own mouth even if he tried, but his heart stopped out of fear and he physically jumped away from the source of the sound, which didn’t get him very far in game. “oH FUCKIN’ JESUS CHRIST!” He yelled, balling his fists at his temples and trying to catch his breath. “I don’t remember that happening!”

 

Mark, who was startled at Jack’s outburst, started laughing. “Really? I remember that.”

 

“Why didn’t ya say somethin’?!”

 

“I thought you knew!”

 

“Fuck…” Jack straightened and took a deep breath. They just got started and he’s already losing it.

 

“You gonna be okay, Jackaboy? Think you can handle it?” Mark asked teasingly. Although Mark couldn’t see it, Jack flipped him off in real life knowing that it would show up in the recording at least. He ignored his question and continued forward to the entryway.

 

A second radio tuned to the same station sat on a table opposite the front door, blaring the report loudly. Jack stopped and listened, like he did when he played this on his PS4.

 

_“...of the crime, the father went to the trunk of his car, retrieved the rifle, and shot his wife as she was cleaning up the kitchen after lunch. When his ten-year-old son came to investigate the commotion, the father shot him, too. His six-year-old daughter had the good sense to hide in the bathroom, but reports suggest he lured her out by telling her it was just a game. The girl was found shot once in the chest from point-blank range. The mother, who he shot in the stomach, was pregnant at the time. Police arriving…”_

 

“Jaysus…” Jack mumbled sadly. “I forgot how horrible tha backstory is.”

 

“I know right,” Mark agreed solemnly. He stood staring at the squeaky ceiling light that was swinging around slightly. While Jack was listening to the radio, he had tried the front door, which was of course locked. After poking around the contents of the table, the pair moved on.

 

They warped down the stairs into the dark landing where they were met with a second wooden door. As Mark opened it, their characters moved forward on their own, forcing themselves through the doorway then closing shut behind them.

 

“Well that was weird…” Mark commented, turning around to look at the door they just came through.

 

“Aaaand we’re back ta square one again! Yaaaay,” Jack cheered with fake enthusiasm. Indeed, they were in the same long hallway they started in. An endless loop. Great.

 

The radio was silent this time around, the only sound was their “footsteps” as they moved forward. Cockroaches skittered along the walls and floor, both of them standing as center in the hallway as possible to avoid the insects. The silence was eerie, and it put Jack on edge. It had been so long since he played this game that he couldn’t remember when the jumpscares were going to happen, and that made him tense. Warping forward wasn’t helping either, since your vision blanks briefly as your character switches positions. You didn’t know if a jumpscare was waiting for you when you stood in your new spot.

 

“It’s too quiet! I don’t like it!” Jack shouted nervously, rubbing his hands together.

 

After they turned the corner toward the front entry, the far door slowly swung shut. “Oh right, that is a thing that happens…” Mark murmured, gesturing to the door leading to the dark landing where they would continue their loop. The radio in the entryway also stayed silent, the creak of the swinging light above them sounding much louder than usual.

 

When Jack tried the handle of the door, a click and a creak sounded behind them, making him whip around in a panic. The bathroom door was now open. Jack whined.

 

“Nope! Nope, nooo, I don’t want any, nope.”

 

“Now who’s the baby?” Mark teased, reversing his steps.

 

Jack reluctantly followed Mark towards the door, obvious that they wouldn’t be able to progress without doing so. Because, again, video game logic.

 

Mark peered near the crack in the bathroom door. “Helloo–AHHFUCKYOU FUCK!” He jumped at the sudden and very loud baby sounds echoing from within.

 

Jack had jumped too from both the baby sounds and Mark’s outburst. The sounds gave Jack goosebumps, he _hates_ noises like that. “That’s the baby,” Jack countered, referring to Mark’s earlier teasing question.

 

Mark sighed heavily at Jack. “No _shit_. Now you look in the door, you ass.”

 

Jack rolled his eyes and braced himself. He remembered this jumpscare. But it was one of those you had to trigger in order for something else to happen, so there was no arguing out of it. Jack slowly peered into the dark room, getting as close as he dared. He waited, squinting his eyes to lessen the impact.

 

When the lady suddenly appeared and shut the door in his face, Jack screamed. But he wasn’t screaming at the lady. He was screaming at the hand that grabbed his arm in real life, making his entire body go into an adrenaline rushed fight or flight mode. He wrenched his arm free from the assaulter,  scrambling to rip off his headset while his hand controllers smacked him in the face as they hung from his wrists. His breath came quick and shallow as his eyes focused on the shitbag laughing his ass off next to him. The red haired asshole had his hands on his knees, giggling like the insane dickhead he his. That mother fucking piece of…

 

“...shit, dick! Asshole! Bitch!” Jack began hitting Mark, his adrenaline rushed emotions clouding his brain. “Don’t fuckin’ _do that!_ ”

 

Even though Jack was angry, Mark knew there was no real malice in his words. He let Jack hit him, cackling loudly while holding his hands up in defeat.

 

“S-sorry, I’m sorry! That was just too good, haha, I couldn’t help it, I’m sorry, that was mean,” Mark spoke in between giggles. Jack ceased his onslaught of smacks, taking his headset off completely and rubbing a hand through his green hair while taking deep breaths. There’s been a lot of breathing exercises this game, he’s realizing.

 

When he finally calmed down, he chuckled. “You’re such a fuckin’ _ass_.”

 

“I know,” Mark said with a cheesy smile.

 

“Get tha fuck back in tha game, fer fucks sake.” Jack brushed off the scare and put his headset back on, reorienting himself in the room. “Oh good, tha door is open now.”

 

When they reentered the loop, they stopped quiet. The familiar strained gasping moan echoed around them in the hallway, like you could hear someone in pain over a radio.

 

“Well, I know what’s about to happen,” Mark commented. He moved quickly forward, turning the corner and facing the hovering demonic woman standing in the entryway underneath the hanging light. “Heyy BAYBAY!”

 

Jack followed and peered around the corner. This part really freaked him out, seeing dark figures standing in the dark. The strained moaning was loud in his ears, but he swallowed and forced himself to act cheery. “Hullo there, friend!”

 

The light flickered off above the figure making her disappear from sight, enveloping the entire entryway in darkness. They hesitantly continued forward until the light turned back on, revealing about way-too-many hissing cockroaches crawling everywhere around them. Seeing them skitter about made Jack’s skin crawl, and judging from the uncomfortable sound Mark just made, he felt the same way.

 

They continued on, warping along in small increments, commenting on the realistic environment and how freaked out they were (mainly to give them something to do as a distraction). They were on the topic of the paintings looking subtly like faces when they turned the corner on their next loop. The loud creak of the bathroom door swinging quickly open startled them into silence.

 

“OHHH, kay, so you’re fully open now!” Mark nearly yelled. He seemed to get louder the more freaked out he got.

 

“That’s nice, but I _really_ don’t want ta go in there again,” Jack grimaced. He noticed something flickering from inside, which immediately piqued his interest. “Wait... oh yeh! Look!” Jack pointed inside on the floor where a flashlight flickered next to the toilet. “That’s how they get ya.”

 

“I ain’t scared!” Mark puffed out his chest and walked inside while Jack waited in the hallway. Mark bent over trying to pick up the flashlight. “Wait what...I can’t… I can’t pick it up.”

 

“But we need it,” Jack reasoned, walking in behind Mark. “Want me ta try?”

 

“Oh, no wait, I got it,” Mark stood and turned around, holding the flashlight in one hand. “That...oh _fuck_.”

 

The door slammed shut behind Jack, trapping them inside the bathroom. Jack mentally kicked himself for being an idiot; he knew that going in here was a trap.

 

Mark laughed, exasperated. “Goddamnit, it wouldn’t let us get the flashlight if we both weren’t in here. Fuck! Good one, game.”

 

They were frightfully reminded of the fetus baby in the sink when it began whimpering and crying. Jack cringed at the noise.

 

Mark, the always curious, peered into the sink at the wiggling thing with his flashlight. “Ew, this is way more gross in VR. You can hear it squishing around in there.”

 

“I’ll take ya word for it,” Jack mumbled, not wanting to investigate himself. They were in complete darkness aside from the flashlight Mark held in his hand.

 

Heavy footsteps could be heard outside the door, followed by someone trying to wrench it open.

 

“Occupied!” Mark yelled through the door, making Jack laugh. He was thankful for him breaking the tension a little bit. The scare wasn’t as effective when you knew that you wouldn’t actually die, but the crying baby was continuously hitting a nerve for some reason. Maybe it was ‘cause he felt like he was actually in the environment this time instead of looking in through a screen.

 

“I kinda wish we could do an original horror game, yknow?” Mark shared as they waited for the door to open. “Don’t get me wrong, this whole experience is fucking great and I love VR to death, but I feel like we’re missing out on some scares ‘cause we already did this.”

 

Jack agreed, knowing exactly what he was talking about. This bathroom scene was a perfect example.

 

The door slowly creaked open, and the baby went silent. Mark hesitated, then whispered, “It’s still creepy as fuck though…” Jack also agreed with that statement.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got us some P.T.! I've seen these playthroughs so many times but there are still parts that I needed to mute and look away so I wouldn't get startled when I was going back and reviewing it xD 
> 
> Wanna know a fun personal fact? I just saw Green Day live a couple nights ago and BRO I'm still reeling from it. They're my absolute favorite band EVER and I was right on the rail and everything. Billie Joe was just ten feet away 8D Jesus Christ, they put on such a good show. Two and a half hours! 
> 
> Anyway, just felt like sharing. Back to the Tubers! Thanks for reading!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A super long chapter! And a little foreshadowing.... *spoopy sounds*

Jack knew something felt off when they entered the next loop. It was very dark. The sound of heavy, strained breathing constantly sounded like someone was right behind him. No matter how many times he looked over his shoulder, nobody was ever there. _The sound mechanics are amazin’_ , he thought. Jack couldn’t help but nerd out a little to himself.

 

He stuck close to Mark who still had the flashlight. The entryway was basked in a red light, and the sound of sloshing liquid echoed off the walls.

 

“Oh yes, the bloody fridge. Good!” Mark reminisced.

 

Blood oozed from the suspended fridge all over the floor, a thumping sound coming from the inside. The radio was mumbling incoherently. As they got closer, it seemed to tune itself into a station where a male news reporter was talking. Jack listened just in case there was anything new.

 

“ _After killing his family, the father hung himself with a garden hose they had in the garage…_ ”

 

“Ah, it’s just tha same thing,” Jack said, moving away from the radio. It continued to mumble incoherently until it suddenly cleared up again.

 

“ _Don’t touch that dial now, we’re just getting started._ ”

 

Jack ignored it, walking past the entryway. He tried to open the door to reset the loop but it wouldn’t budge.

 

“ _Look behind you._ ”

 

Jack tensed, but stayed quiet. Mark however–

 

“ _NO!_ Nope, fuck you!”

 

Jack rolled his eyes.

 

“ _I said, look behind you, Sean._ ”

 

Jack froze completely, wanting to do exactly opposite of that. The radio turned to static.

 

“What the _HELL?!_ ” Mark yelled in fright. “It said my name!”

 

Confused, Jack whirled around to face Mark. “Your name? It said _my_ name! My real name.”

 

“What…”

 

The door to the landing creaked open, as if giving them permission to progress forward. Mark didn’t move.

 

“Wait, so, did we hear two different things?” Mark continued.

 

“Yeh, I think so. For me it said ‘look behind you Sean’.”

 

“Whoa, the fact that it used your real name is freaky as hell.” Mark slowly moved to the door. “Mine said ‘Mark’, obviously, but we heard two totally different things. That’s super interesting.”

 

“And fuckin’ terrifying!” Jack exclaimed. This shit was giving him goosebumps. He thought back to earlier when they were playing Five Nights at Freddys and the dude on the phone called them out by name. That kind of creepy shit left a bad taste in his mouth, and he wasn’t ready to admit that he thinks it was Cal talking on the phone, and how he thinks this was Cal talking again... Jack rubbed his arms IRL as they moved down the steps. He didn’t want to voice his thoughts then, and definitely not now in case he was right, ‘cause he really fucking didn’t want to be right.

 

Jack groaned as they were gently forced through the doorway again. Not because of that though, he groaned because the hallway was now illuminated in red. That’s never a good sign.

 

“Greaaaaat,” Mark said bitterly.

 

“This looks inviting,” Jack added, sounding just as bitter.

 

When the baby started screaming, Jack’s stomach turned. “Oh no…” He winced, listening to the distressed wail of a digital horror child. “This is just as haunting as I remember…”

 

The wailing got louder the closer they got to the entryway. Loud banging could be heard from the hanging bloody fridge as it swung violently around the foyer. Every thump induced another scream, implying the child was being thrown around inside the fridge, and the blood pouring out onto the floor belonged to it. The longer Jack looked up at the horror above him, and the longer he listened to the pained screaming of a baby, the more he felt like he could smell the coppery scent of the blood around him. His stomach lurched.

 

Jack was going to be sick.

 

“This is honestly one of the most uncomfortable situations I’ve been in a video game,” Mark grimaced, looking up at the spectacle above them.

 

“Can we please move on before I throw up in real life,” Jack choked out. Curse his stupid sensitive gag reflex.

 

Mark couldn’t help but chuckle. “Are you really gonna puke on camera, Jack?”

 

“I’ll puke all over _you_ if we don’t bloody move!”

 

Mark laughed again, leading the way down the steps to the next loop.

 

The hallway was still red, the distant thumping of the fridge could still be heard, but there was no baby noises. Weird.

 

They progressed, walking by the first alcove with the clock.

 

“Still 23:59!” Jack yelled unnecessarily, distracting himself from his discomfort.

 

“This is the longest minute of my life!” Mark chimed in with a chuckle.

 

The moment they stepped into the entryway again, a combination of baby screaming and a woman wailing filled Jack’s ears, making every hair on his body stand on end. He flinched away, his hands immediately flying up to his ears.

 

“Gah, _fuck!_ ” Jack yelled over the noise. His first instinct was to _run_ , to get the fuck out of there, but what little logic he held onto told him not to actually _physically_ run. That wouldn’t get him anywhere, ironically.

 

“Nope, no, I’m out, fuck this, fuck, I’m done, get me the fuck out of here,” Jack chanted, mostly to himself, warping quickly over to the door in a nervous sprint. His stomach continued to roll as the distressed crying from two beings followed him. He hated this, he _hated_ the sound of screaming women or babies crying in horror games. It made him so uncomfortable. Thankfully Mark was right on his heels so the door could open for them. The sounds immediately stopped the instant the door shut behind them.

 

“Ffffuuuuuuuck,” Mark sighed next to him. Jack didn’t say anything, too busy trying to regain his composure. Mark noticed the silence and asked “You alright?”

 

“Yeh, yeah, that’s just super unnerving to me,” Jack admitted. He was breathing like he just ran a marathon, trying to push the sounds of women and children screaming out of his brain. “Like, it’s fuckin’ nightmare inducing, man. I can’t handle sounds like that.”

 

“I hear ya,” Mark said in agreement.

 

Their next walkthrough of the loop was quiet. Every light still glowed red, bathing the walls in crimson. The radios remained silent. The fridge was gone save for the swinging ceiling light. And, thankfully, no baby sounds.

 

“Wasn’t there supposed to be a lady jumpscare around this time, like a super intense one?” Mark queried as they reached the door again.

 

Jack, who had finally chilled the fuck out, thought about it. “Oh yeh… that fuckin’ sucked! Mark, don’t jinx us!”

 

“What, I’m just asking!” Mark said defensively, then changed his tone of voice to sound slightly menacing. “But now you’re gonna be expecting it at every turn.”

 

“Oh Jesus, fuck off will ya,” Jack laughed at Mark’s attempt to scare him.

 

Their vision went laggy as they stepped through into the next loop. Every movement was jerky, yet slow.

 

“Shit, I remember this,” Mark observed, waving his hands in front of his face. “This is totally bizarre.”

 

Jack looked around and tried walking forward. The jerky movements of his character and the wonky vision made him go dizzy. “This is gonna make me nauseous…much worse in VR.”

 

“Oh good, the eyeball photos have returned,” Mark said too cheerily. Sure enough, every picture frame in the hallway now had spinning black eyeballs, adding to the disorienting sensation the game now had.

 

This was the part in the game that literally made no sense. You sprinted this way and that, you started going backwards when you thought you were going forwards, and you seemed to always be turning the same corner over and over. Jack focused on not looking around too much as to not get dizzy. This part was not VR friendly.

 

They traversed this part loudly, narrating their movements in detail and making jokes to help lighten the mood. Mark laughed at whatever dumb pun Jack just tried to make about the house now being well “red/read”, something that really wasn’t that funny or clever but Mark laughed all the same.

 

They continued wobbling through the repeating hallways, this loop extending on forever. Mark dashed into the bathroom to say hello to the baby before jumping back out. Jack giggled and copied him, briefly peering into the sink for a greeting, but before he could leave the baby started talking.

 

“ _You got fired, so you drowned your sorrows in booze. She had to get a part-time job working a grocery store cash register. Only reason she could earn a wage at all is the manager liked how she looked in a skirt._ ”

 

Jack remembered this part, the baby narrating the character’s backstory in a husky male voice. He tried to ignore his stomach churning over the bulbous creature squirming with every word.

 

“ _You remember, right? Exactly ten months back._ ”

 

“Jack?” Mark called from further down the hallway. Jack went to leave, thinking that’s all the baby had to say, but it kept going.

 

“ _She thought you were boring and useless. She liked the attention at work. It was probably the only action she had in years._ ”

 

Jack squinted his eyes at the writhing baby in the sink. This was new.

 

“ _You were just a deadbeat who couldn’t manage to take care of himself, now she had to pick up the slack. You held her back. It’s a wonder that she didn’t end up shooting you instead._ ”

 

Mark appeared in the doorway. “Jack, what–” Mark started but Jack shushed him, gesturing to the child.

 

“ _Oh, but enough about him, let’s talk about you._ ”

 

Mark went silent. This was getting weird. Well, whatever was weirder than a talking fetus baby in a sink.

 

“ _You aren't as good as you think you are, over compensating your own insecurities with humor and a falsely inflated ego._ ”

 

“This is new...right…?” Jack whispered to Mark.

 

“ _Do you really think you make an ounce of difference in this world? Acting like an idiot alone in your own house?_ ”

 

“Um??” Mark said incredulously, taken aback by this stupid fetus baby in a sink.

 

“ _Newsflash, big guy. You don’t._ ”

 

“This is stupid, you’re stupid, this whole thing is stupid!” Mark barked out, the usual tantrum whenever he deals with something he doesn’t like. He stepped out of the bathroom and Jack decided that he, too, had had enough. Too meta, yo.

 

“That was fuckin’ weird…this game loves to mess with you, eh?” Jack said lightly. Was the baby talking about...Mark? It could be anyone really, but it just seemed rather specific.

 

“I don’t need a baby talking shit to me!” Mark yelled good naturedly. He was used to cutting comments, he got them every day. It was just odd coming from a horror sink baby. Mark dropped the subject though and continued to warp down the hallway. The rushed dizzy movements had stopped, and they finally walked through the entryway to get to the door to end the loop. Jack followed, glad to finally be out of the disorienting circuit.

 

It was eerily quiet as they warped towards the entry to start the next loop. The lights were still red and the eyeballs whirled in their picture frames. Unfortunately, however, the door was closed and locked. Jack was puzzled.

 

“Did we miss somethin’?” Jack asked aloud, looking around the entryway. Mark shrugged in response.

 

“Hang on...” Mark was up to something and warped back down the hallway. Letting him do his thing, Jack poked around the dresser with the silent radio.

 

Jack was looking closely at the photo of the married couple when he heard Mark swear under his breath next to him.

 

“Yeah, hey c’mere, there’s the hole in the wall we missed.”

 

Jack warped down the hall and turned the corner to see Mark’s character leaned in to a spot on the wall where a frame used to hang.

 

“What ya lookin’ at? It’s that girl gettin’ murdered right?” Jack asked, peering over his shoulder.

 

Mark was silent for a moment. Then, confused, said, “Uh, so, tell me if you see what I… oh shit, look at that.”

 

Mark pointed above the hole where the words _NO TURNING_ were scratched into the wall.

 

“No turning…?” Jack asked out loud. He turned around, expecting to see something there but there was nothing. If he wasn’t confused before, he sure was now.

 

Mark turned his head to the side and spoke in a high pitched voice, getting higher the longer he spoke. “I don’t think that was there before…? Question mark?”

 

Shrugging, Jack leaned his face close to the hole and peeked in. He remembered peeking in before and seeing the bathroom on the other side, hearing the sounds of a girl screaming and then getting her throat slit open. A shiver went down his spine at the memory, and mentally prepared himself for the same onslaught.

 

He saw the bathroom, but it was quiet. He looked up and down at the empty space. He leaned away and shook his head, thinking maybe he didn’t trigger a game mechanic or something. Trying once more, he peered into the quiet room. He couldn’t even hear the baby.

 

Suddenly a black shadow of a person slid into view, making Jack jump but he refused to look away. The shadow leaned forward, as if trying to look through the hole himself, right at Jack. He couldn’t make out any defining details, just the dark outline of a person with spiky hair. Jack cocked his head to the side and the shadow mirrored his movements. He moved his head to the other side and the shadow followed.

 

“What the hell…” Jack whispered under his breath, but when the shadow suddenly opened an eye and smiled, Jack yelped and jumped backward.

 

“Yeah! You saw it too?!” Mark said quickly.

 

“That was freaky!” Jack shouted, his heart was pounding but a smile played on his lips. “He had all kinds a teeth and like a green glowy eyeball, it looked like he was starin’ at me!”

 

“What…?” Mark said in disbelief. “You didn’t see a dude with red eyes standing in the bathroom?”

 

“I saw a dude, but he was lookin’ at me through the hole. And he had one eye and he was smilin’. What did…” Jack trailed off when he noticed the text above the hole in the wall had a new addition: _NO TURNING BACK NOW._

 

“That makes more sense...” Jack mumbled, distracted from the fact that he and Mark just saw two different things in the hole in the wall.

 

“Oh _great_ , guess we’re stuck here!” Mark said too enthusiastically with a giant grin and a thumbs up.

 

Jack sighed. “Are we done yet?!” he asked, exasperated. His heart couldn’t take this shit anymore. Deep down he was enjoying himself, but his brain hurt from all the mind games.

 

Hole-peering seemed to do the trick as they were now allowed to move on to a different loop. The lights and photo frames were back to normal; no more red glows or weird twitchy eyeballs.

 

As they warped forward in the new loop, Jack happened to glance over at the clock. The numbers 0:00 flashed on its little LED screen.

 

“It’s midnight,” Jack said absentmindedly.

 

“We’ve traversed this whole game in the span of a minute. Very efficient!” Mark replied, his smile evident in his voice.

 

Turning the corner, Jack’s vision glitched out, making him jump. “Jesus _fuck_!”

 

Mark had jumped too, making a nervous “aah!” sound. The same thing must have happened to him. They both were quiet as they looked around, thinking something must have appeared. They were alone.

 

“That was fre- _eaky!_ ” It glitched again, startling him mid sentence. _For fucks sake…_ Jack thought, irritated.

 

The hallways were quiet except for a low static hum. A quick peek in the bathroom revealed that the sink baby had disappeared. There weren’t even any cockroaches on the walls.

 

As the pair progressed into another loop, the humming got louder. The environment continued to glitch until their vision was permanently skewed, like a skipping VHS tape.

 

“This is annoying,” Mark mumbled as they warped into the entryway again.

 

Jack agreed. Not much was happening, but what _was_ happening gave him a feeling of dread. Perfect case of waiting for the thing to happen was much scarier than the actual thing itself. You just wanted to get it over with so you could stop jumping at every sound you heard or weird thing you saw.

 

The static was much louder on their next go, scratching like someone was rubbing their mic on their shirt. Jack groaned, trying to hear through the static.

 

He didn’t have to wait long. As they warped passed the bathroom all the lights shut off, shrouding them both in darkness and silencing the static. Mark squeaked in alarm, and Jack couldn’t help but chuckle softly to himself. Out of all the scary crap happening around them, Mark’s squeak seemed so out of place.

 

Just then, the moaning returned. The strained choking groan from earlier when the lady stood alone in the foyer before disappearing. But instead of the sound coming from all directions, this particular groaning, much to Jack’s dismay, came from right behind them.

 

He scrunched his face up, whimpering “Oh _no_ …” before turning around.

 

He knew, he _knew_ she was there, he knew what was about to happen, but the scream that ripped from his throat was very much genuine. Jack knew that she was grabbing his character and tossing him around, but his eyes were shut tight, fighting the urge to throw off the headset and escaping the digital world. All he heard was her glitching and groaning, as well as Mark’s chorus of profanities and insults as he tried to shake her off.

 

“Get the FUCK away from me, GO AWAY, you fucking _bitch_ , fuck, ew ew, you’re ugly get away, _GET OFF ME!_ ”

 

He _felt_ his character collapse to the ground and the noises stopped. Jack slowly opened his eyes to see her feet walking away, Mark’s character sprawled on the ground next to him.

 

“Did we die?” Jack asked forlornly. Mark chuckled.

 

“Probably. I can’t move.”

 

The two went silent as they heard footsteps shuffling near them, then Jack’s vision began to move.

 

“Oh _now_ what,” Mark said exasperated.

 

The pair could do nothing but watch as their bodies were dragged down the hallway, listening to the scrape of their clothes and the labored breathing of the demonic creature. Now, normally this is where you black out and start over at a checkpoint, like most video games. But that wasn’t happening.

 

“Lady…?” Jack asked hesitantly. His head was cocked to the side so he could see what his character was seeing properly.

 

“Well now what do we do!” yelled Mark.

 

The front door slowly came into view, and soon their bodies stopped moving. Ever so slowly, their characters started to get up, Mark and Jack regaining control of their sluggish digital limbs. The woman stood in front of the dresser, twitching violently and staring at the two with dead angry eyes. Jack cringed at her appearance, the impossibly twitchy movements putting him on edge. He was surprised to hear her speak.

 

 _“Get out.”_ She whispered so quietly that Jack could hardly hear her. Mark, however, missed it completely.

 

“What?” He asked louder than he needed to, stepping closer to her. In hindsight, that was a bad idea. Jack went to interject, but was interrupted by her jaw opening inhumanly wide and eliciting an anguished scream that resounded from every corner of the house, vibrating their core.

 

 _“G E T_ **_O U T!”_ **

 

Everything exploded. It felt like a shock wave went through them at the pure force of her scream. The picture frame and radio sitting on the dresser behind her shattered to nothing, the dresser itself cracking to pieces. The hanging light above them burst into a hundred glass shards like dynamite went off in the center. The windows on either side of the door shattered apart, but more importantly, the front door blew open barely off its hinges, revealing a dark patio and grass.

 

Mark and Jack were knocked backward, startled by her outburst and the strange turn of events. This was not expected… nor cannon? But who the fuck cares, the DOOR was OPEN.

 

“GO THAT WAY!” Jack yelled over the deafening wails, pointing towards the door. Mark looked just as surprised as Jack that the door was open in the first place. He shrugged and ran out, Jack close on his heels.

 

The enraged wailing suddenly cut itself off, the silence almost as loud as the screams. Now that they were out of that looping hell hole, what just happened started to register in Jack’s brain. He was whirling with questions, but the most important was–

 

“What tha bloody _fuck_ just fuckin’ happened!?” Jack yelled, flipping around. The door was shut, intact. The windows disappeared, the entire house gone dark, no life inside. It’s like the house completely changed.

 

“I don’t fuckin know!!” Mark yelled back, just as confused as he was. “That wasn’t supposed to fucking happen!”

 

Jack was breathing heavy, his heart racing for the upteenth time that night. Or...morning? It was night time in game, he’s going with that.

 

“Is this even the same house?” Jack asked, walking over to a set of windows to his right and peeking in. “What tha fuck…”

 

Where he expected a hallway was instead a large dark dining room. A long wood table sat in the middle surrounded by several chairs, some of which were overturned or pushed to the side haphazardly, like someone was in a hurry and threw them out of their way. Aside from two china cabinets empty on the right and a small table with a fake plant in the far corner, the room was empty. No art on the walls, not even a rug on the floor. A door sat ajar on the far side of the room, but not open enough to see what was beyond it. A dim light filtered in from the foyer on his left where the front door was locked shut.

 

“This is not tha same house…”

 

Mark appeared next to him to inspect the situation as well. He pressed his face as close to the window as possible to see into the dimly lit area, then gasped.

 

“Holy shit, Jack, can you see that? On the wall?”

 

Jack moved to where he stood and squinted into the foyer. He saw what had to be the banister of some stairs leading to the second floor, but beyond that were some dark markings scribbled on the upper half with Sharpie or something. He crouched to try and figure out what he was seeing on the upper wall  through the window. They were distinct scribbles of trees bunched up around the drawing of a person. Jack swallowed.

 

A tall and very slim drawing of a person with long arms and legs.

  
Slenderman.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh shiiiiii–
> 
> Shit's gettin real, yo


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to put notifications in my phone every Saturday to post a chapter, because it completely spaced me yesterday. I'M SO SORRY *bows down repeatedly* I am not worthyyyyy. But the notifications will help me not forget :P Thank you for your unending patience you beautiful readers <3

“Oooh this is tha badness,” Jack whined.

 

“Well, we’re gonna dead now!” Mark backed up to look at the house again, then around the yard. The house was fenced in by a ten foot brick wall with nothing but trees beyond it. The entire property looked like it was dropped in the middle of the woods. No real driveway or road to connect to the outside world and obviously no other houses around them. Mark just chalked it up to video game logic, as always!

 

Mark vaguely remembered the swing set in the front yard. As he studied it, he shared his thoughts aloud. “Not only are we playing Slender, we’re playing Slender: The Arrival. Jesus, it’s been a while.”

 

“God, I remember when this first came out! I was such a little shite back then,” Jack remembered fondly, chuckling at the memory.

 

As they were reminiscing about their experiences with the classic horror game, it was getting dark fast. Mark realized he couldn’t see shit anymore, the swing set and brick wall were just shadows in the night. They needed a flashlight, but from what he remembered that was _inside_ the house. Of which the front door was locked, luckily he noticed the garage door was still open.

 

“We’re not going to get anywhere if we can’t find– oh _fuck_ , hang on!” Mark was so lost in the game that he completely forgot their schedule. He totally spaced that they were even in a game at all and that they _had plans with real life people, fuck me._

 

Mark ripped off his headset and was suddenly blinded by the bright light in his room. He blinked several times to let his eyes adjust, staggering over to his desk where he left his phone. It was shortly after one, so they weren’t late yet thank God, but they sure as hell weren’t going to go get lunch at this rate.

 

“What’s u– _ah fuck!_ ” Jack complained, covering his eyes after taking off his headset. He too was experiencing the struggle of facing real life. Squinting at Mark, he chuckled and sang “Bliiinded by the liiight…”

 

Mark shook his head, albeit smiling nonetheless. There was always some line of a song that fit the moment in Jack’s world. He squinted his eyes at his phone, sifting through the barrage of notifications he always had, when he saw a text from Bob in their group chat with Wade from twenty minutes ago.

 

_Hey I’m totally not even home yet, I’m out with Mandy. Can we start at like 3ish?_

 

Wade had responded as well, saying he could wait as he was working on a video anyway. _Perfect_ , Mark thought and typed up a reply.

 

“Do you wanna get lunch now or continue playing? Bob isn’t home yet and it sounds like he won’t be available until like three, and Wade is editing some stuff. So that gives us like what, an hour and a half?”

 

Jack thought about it. “Ta be perfectly honest… I kinda wanna keep playing,” Jack said sheepishly. “I’m like really inta it now.”

 

Mark smiled. He knew he picked the right Irishman. “Good, cause I want to keep playing, too.” Wanted, or needed? Mark felt a strong tug to get right back in, but he always felt that way about games he was truly enjoying, something he knew Jack felt about games often. It wasn’t hard to cave and pull the headset back over his eyes. This recording is going to be chopped up weird but he knew Ethan would make it work, and he could do a separate recording of his intro and outro if he needed to. Or, wait, was this Jack’s portion…? Eh, they’d figure it out later.

 

The pair decided to scope out the open garage to try and get into the house. They were in luck, cause the door inside was cracked open just slightly. Mark pushed it open with his controller like he was actually pushing a door.

 

“Do ya remember where the flashlight is?” Jack asked as they creeped into the hallway. “I honestly have no clue.”

 

“Somewhere downstairs I think,” Mark whispered. He knew there would be nobody here but it felt weird to physically walk into a stranger’s house. Even with the small light, the hallway was still very dim.

 

“Oooh hoo I’m gettin’ shivers!” Jack exclaimed nervously. “VR Slender games are terrifyin’. I’m just gonna follow you.”

 

Mark smirked. “Now who’s the baby?”

 

Jack didn’t answer, but Mark could feel the middle finger defence even through his headset.

 

The pair continued into a small room connected to a dining room. Mark recognized the barren dining area from when they were creeping in the front yard. The smaller room had it’s own table and chairs...a second dining area…? What kind of house is this?

 

They moved quickly, finding their way to the kitchen. Mark noticed that there weren’t any notes anywhere, no letters or photos to collect. Weird. Luck befell them when they reached the piano room on the other side, however.

 

“Awww yeahhhh,” Mark cheered, grabbing the flashlight off the dresser and immediately turning it on.

 

Jack chuckled and pointed at the box of cigars that had been next to it. “Smoke, bitch!”

 

Mark smirked and turned around, aiming the flashlight at the piano. “I’ll pass, thanks.” He walked over and examined the keys, then experimentally pressed one. He was happy to find that it worked!

 

“Gonna show us yer leet piano skills, breh?”

 

“I’m practically Mozart reincarnated!” Mark boasted confidently, pressing several keys in no orderly fashion just to make a bunch of noise.

 

Just then their vision flickered, the haunting sound of the iconic Slender glitch making them both jump.

 

Mark instantly raised his hands in surrender and backed away from the piano. “Sorry! Sorry, guess you didn’t like that, my bad!”

 

“You must _really_ suck if Slender of all people doesn’t like yer piano playin’,” Jack chuckled.

 

“He just doesn’t understand true talent!”

 

Their vision glitched again, and instead of getting scared Jack let out a loud laugh. “ _I hear ya talkin’ shit!_ ”

 

“Oh my god.” Mark laughed too, it felt like Slender was watching and didn’t exactly appreciate the teasing comments.

 

They made their way to the front entry, bypassing the rest of the house. They got what they needed, and they didn’t feel like going upstairs to see the creepy girl’s room again, especially when the entry was defiled with black drawings of trees and the big guy himself. Mark tried the front door, and was surprised to find it totally unlocked. He opened it experimentally, slightly puzzled, but shrugged it off.

 

When they stepped outside, Jack inhaled deeply. “Ah, nothin’ like fresh horror forest air!”

 

“You don’t get this in the city!” Mark added cheerily.

 

They marched to the back of the house, Jack narrating their short adventure in a made up song and Mark adding the backup vocals.

 

“Makin’ our way to see Mister Slendeerr!”

 

“Mister Slenderrr.”

 

“We’re gonna fuck him up!”

 

“Fuuuuck him uuuup~”

 

“And steal his DIARYYYY~!”

 

“OOOH HIS DIARYYY!”

 

Needless to say it was horrible. And they loved it.

 

They followed the path away from the house and deeper into the woods. Jack quieted down the further they went, mostly cause they ran out of things to sing about, but really it’s cause things legit felt creepier. It was too quiet, and the air was getting colder...or it seemed that way… Mark felt cold, but it’s probably just his brain tricking him into feeling the environment. He always loved immersion in games! They walked side by side, Mark shining the flashlight on the path in front of them. Neither felt the need to comment anymore, the silence and darkness around them seemed almost suppressing, even the occasional cricket noises sounded drowned out.

 

The path curved upwards, lined with an old wood fence on one side leading to a dim light. The light belonged to a small shack. Mark shined his light at the wooden sign above a locked door and read it aloud: “OAKSIDE PARK HAS    3    CANOES AVAILABLE FOR RENTAL”.

 

“I think we’re here,” Jack said, looking around.

 

The hairs on the back of Mark’s neck suddenly stood on end, forcing him to whirl around and shine his light into a patch of trees. “Jesus Christ…”

 

“What?” Jack asked, trying to see.

 

“I dunno, I just felt...I don’t know what I felt.” They barely started and Mark was already feeling on edge. They haven’t even found the first page yet. Did they really have to collect eight pages? He could barely get past six when playing the actual game.

 

“You know, normal human instinct ‘n’ common fuckin’ sense says ta _not_ go inta the creepy woods at night. And _especially_ when ya know there’s an elongated supernatural horror guy creepin’ in said creepy woods!” Jack reasoned.

 

“You are not wrong,” Mark replied. Despite that logic, he continued to move forward along the fenceline. “And that’s why we’re going to keep going! Because we’re fucking idiots!”

 

Jack puffed out his chest. “YEAH!”

 

Soon after, a rickety watch tower came into view lit by another very dim bulb at the top. And there, pinned on one of the wooden beams, was the first page.

 

Jack ran over and tore it off. The moment he did, however, the air changed again. It felt more foreboding and heavy.

 

Jack abruptly looked up from the paper, looking concerned. “Did ya feel that?”

 

“How everything got like heavy and weird? Oh yeah. Slendy’s comin!” Mark grinned. He couldn’t help but _casually_ glance around, though. Just to check.

 

Jack glanced around as well, before going back to the paper and reading the chicken scratch. “ _Always watches, no eyes_.”

 

“So how fast do you think we can pick these bad boys up?”

 

Jack grinned. “I think between two veterans we can speedrun this shit pretty good.”

 

They jogged down the path away from the tower toward the next landmark, Jack folding up the page and stuffing it in his pocket. It didn’t take long for the glow of a campfire next to a tent to appear in the mist. Mist? When did the mist show up?

 

Jack broke out into a sprint, very eager to get to the page first. Shocked, Mark stumbled before sprinting after him, but Jack had too much of a head start. Jack reached out and ripped the page from the tent pole just as Mark caught up to him, holding it up in triumph.

 

“Hell yeah!” Jack celebrated, grinning from ear to ear.

 

“You asshole! I had no warning!” Mark laughed, stepping around the campfire. He paused for a moment, letting the heat from the fire soak into his legs. Felt nice.

 

“You gotta keep up, scrub!”

 

“Oh yeah?!” Mark took off, taking their only light source with him and leaving Jack behind. Jack quickly realized his problem and promptly followed.

 

“WAIT, ya fuck, I can’t see where I’m goin’!”

 

The farther they ran, the thicker the trees became. In the heat of friendly competition, and with the false sense of security that only a video game can give you, neither of them had noticed the change. Nor had either of them noticed a white face looming from just beyond the trees.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *wink wink nudge nudge*
> 
> But really though, I had to go back and rewatch both of their Slenderman videos and WHAT A BLAST FROM THE PAST GUYS. Mark had his fohawk and it was before Jack had his intro, let alone a facecam. It was trippy man.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's 3am, so it's technically Saturday...

Mark and Jack ran, bumping shoulders and jumping over sticks until they found the third page on an abandoned Jeep. The “competition” had quickly ended however on account of Let’s Players’ issues of being very out of shape. Cardio was neither of their strong suits, even with the workout regimen they both had adopted lately.

 

After they gave up the cardio training they trudged at a leisurely pace through the woods, keeping an ear out for ol’ Slendy himself and making sure to keep heading straight and not backtracking. They followed the sparse path laid out before them until they came across an open space of large metal storage containers where Mark located the next page. It was now so dark that neither could see much outside of the beam of their shared flashlight.

 

“Check this one out,” Mark said as he held up the fourth page, shining a light on it. This one was a rough stickfigure sketch of Slenderman with the words “NO NO NO NO NO” on repeat written on the sides.

 

“No no no is how I feel about bein’ out here.” Jack took the page and stacked it with the others in his pocket. “You’d think growing up in tha fuckin’ woods would make this less creepy,” Jack said bitterly.

 

Mark held the flashlight underneath his face, like a camper about to tell a ghost story around a fire, and grinned maniacally. “They’re just treeeees Jaaaaack!”

 

“Yeh! With a nightmare haunting it!” Jack countered, then looked around. “Who we have yet ta see…”

 

Mark chuckled and put the flashlight down. Something flickered out of the corner of his eye and he quickly looked to a point behind Jack in the trees. Jack noticed his change in demeanor and turned around, searching the treeline but seeing nothing. A feeling of uneasiness grew the longer they looked. Mark took that as a great sign to get moving.

 

“Ugh I hate this! We don’t even have a camera to help us see where Slenderman is hidin’ out,” Jack whined as he jogged down the path next to Mark.

 

“You do know why he follows us, right?” Mark asked, weaving around a bush.

 

“‘Cause he wants to kill us!”

 

“Well, yes. But that’s not the only reason.”

 

“Then why tha hell would he follow us?”

 

“He’s jealous!”

 

Jack paused. “What, why?”

 

“We must have nice asses if he’s always behind us,” Mark smirked, and stopped to wiggle his butt to the darkness while Jack laughed.

 

“Fuck, yer right!”

 

Mark smiled, glad his shitty humor could ease the tension a little bit. They continued on to the next landmark, which happened to be the park map sign that was defiled with Slender’s scribbles, a thick fog rolling around the ground. The fifth page was tacked to the corner with the ominous message reading “CAN’T RUN”.

 

The moment Mark pulled the page from the board, they heard that familiar glitch sound that only belonged to Slenderman. Just off in the distance behind the sign, a white face loomed in the silhouettes of the trees.

 

Mark jumped, backing up from the sign. “Look who’s here!”

 

“Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck,” Jack mumbled nervously, shuffling quickly down the path away from the figure.

 

“Five pages down right?” Mark asked as he fast walked next to Jack. Mark handed him the page to add to Jack’s stack. Indeed, five pages down, three to go.

 

The two were getting more and more nervous the longer they were out there. Mark tried to crack jokes to keep the mood light, but every time that white face loomed off to the side, it only returned the tension plus some. There was a part of Mark’s brain that didn’t like what was going on, like something was wrong, but duh they were in a _horror game_ , of course he wasn’t going to feel comfortable.

 

“ _Jaysus fuckin Christ!_ ” Jack yelled when Slender suddenly appeared much too close for comfort, startling the poor Irishman and stopping them both in their tracks.

 

“Hey Slendy, how ya doin?” Mark said cheerily to hide his nervousness. “We’ll go back the other way, don’t worry.”

 

“You creepy bastard!” Jack said angrily, following Mark. They had went down a fork in the road a short way back, so this time they’d go the other way.

 

This new direction lead to another abandoned vehicle, this time a small dinged up rusty car with flat tires. Jack grabbed the sixth page off the drivers side door, which of course only made things worse.

 

Their visions glitched dramatically, a loud ringing sounding from right behind them.

 

“AH! Fuck, fuck you bitch, go away!” Mark shouted, prancing away from the sound.

 

“Oh no, no no no, fuck no,” Jack said nervously, skittering away down the path.

 

They didn’t get far. Suddenly Slenderman appeared directly in front of them on the path causing them both to skid to a halt yet again.

 

“SHIT no, no NOT today Slender!” Mark grabbed Jack’s arm and steered him into the woods.

 

“Mark, wait, the pa–”

 

“Fuck the path! GO!”

 

Mark launched himself into the trees with Jack close on his heels. The ground sloped down and Mark stumbled over some bushes. Jack scrambled to keep up with him, mumbling a variety of expletives as fear overtook him.

 

Eventually they found another path, and the ringing behind them stopped. Mark slowed to a walk, breathing heavy as Jack fumbled next to him.

 

Mark looked down the dirt path and saw a water tower up on a hill. He looked at Jack and gestured in that direction. “Just a couple more.”

 

Jack grimaced and looked around nervously. “Mark, somethin’s weird.”

 

He shrugged in response. “Well it is a horror game. I don’t think you’re supposed to feel good in a horror game,” Mark teased.

 

Jack shook his head and started walking toward the tower. “I dunno man, I just have a bad feelin’ in my gut.”

 

“Do you need some Pepto?”

 

“Oh fuck off,” Jack chuckled.

 

As they approached the tower, the ringing returned behind them. They picked up the pace up the hill without looking, there was no need.

 

This time Mark grabbed the seventh page but refused to stop moving, knowing that Slender would show up at any moment now that they had almost all the pages. He stuffed it in his back pocket as looked over his shoulder at Jack. “We just need find the bui– oh FUCK AH!”

 

“Shit, MARK!”

 

Mark tripped, of course he did, the idiot tripped over a root or a branch or something when he wasn’t looking and tumbled down the hill. Mark landed heavily on his right arm, losing grip of the flashlight and watched it skitter to a halt near him, shining right at his face.

 

“Goddamnit…” Mark groaned, wondering why he always had to fall. Just like before when he got so scared he fell in his room during FNAF. And here he was, in the dirt… down a hill…? His brows furrowed and he willed his brain to connect the dots.

 

“Holy shit, are you okay?!” Jack yelled, running after him. Jack grabbed the flashlight and crouched next to his friend. Mark grimaced as he tried to sit up, red flags going off in his brain.

 

“Yeah, I’m just an idiot. Ouch...” Mark winced and looked at his elbow. Yep, he had a scrape. And he was...bleeding…

 

“Aw damn, yer bleedin’,” Jack observed in worry, shining the light on it. It wasn’t bad... but that’s not the problem here.

 

“Something’s wrong. Why am I bleeding?” Mark asked slowly, and looked up at Jack.

 

Jack opened his mouth to respond but hesitated. “Maybe...it’s tha physics in tha game…?”

 

“But I shouldn’t _feel_ this, I shouldn’t _feel_ hurt…”

 

Jack looked around, worry etched clearly on his face. “I knew somethin’ wasn’t right…” He looked back at Mark where his light shone and noticed something. “Huh, I forgot yer hair was red. Sorry, stupid attention span of a squirr–”

 

“It’s not.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“I didn’t make my character with red hair, remember? I couldn’t,” Mark said, staring directly into Jack’s eyes from the ground. He thought back to when they started the game and how fascinated they were with the character creation screen. He remembered making himself stupidly buff, and trying on a fucking dress. He remembered picking his pink shirt, and turning to show Jack.

 

_“Too bad they don’t have red hair, ya look weird.”_

 

He remembered thinking Jack looked weird without green hair, too…

 

Mark quickly stood up, ignoring the protests of his body after hitting the ground so hard. He gently took the flashlight from Jack and pointed the light at his hair. Jack’s green hair, his very green, not-brown, dyed hair…

 

“Mark…”

 

The answer clicked in Mark’s brain before he was ready to admit it, and even then he didn’t want to believe it. He reached up and touched his face, his temples, and recoiled like his own skin burned him. Before Mark could fully process their situation however, the glitching noise returned and the ringing came back full force. This just got a whole lot more serious.

 

“We need to go,” Mark said, determination in his voice.

 

“Wait–”

 

“Just, c’mon!” Mark urged, running down the path, hoping to find that stupid fucking building soon where the last page was. Maybe if they beat this…

 

“Mark, what’s goin’ on?!” Jack yelled as they ran, a new energy fueling them both. Fear and... something else. “What tha fuck is wrong?!”

 

“We’re not in Kansas anymore,” Mark joked flatly. Even in times of peril he still tries to be funny.

 

“What tha fuck is that supposed ta mean?” Jack said angrily, sounding frustrated.

 

Suddenly Mark skidded to a halt and turned around to face him. He knew whatever expression he had on his face was bad when Jack suddenly looked scared. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and looked at him hard.

  
“Take off your headset.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OHHHH MYYY GAWWWWWD. I was on the edge of my seat writing that whole thing. 
> 
> On a lighter note, I wanted to say this after last week's chapter xP I just want you all to know that the feedback I’ve been getting from everyone on this story has been freaking PHENOMENAL. You should see the goofy smile I get whenever I read one of your comments, and then I show it to my friends like an obsessed fangirl cause you’re all so freakin NICE. 
> 
> Thank you so much for giving this fic a chance and for taking the time to give kudos and/or comment :3 It sincerely means a lot to me and inspires me to keep this story going! You’re the bestest peeps. Love you fam ;)
> 
>  
> 
> ALSO  
> CAN WE ALL JUST GO GIVE A BIG HUG TO MARK. That video he posted last night was so heart wrenching, I cried watching it. YOU PRECIOUS CINNAMON ROLL, YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW HAPPY YOU MAKE ALL OF US.


	15. Chapter 15

Jack knew.

 

Jack _knew_ , he fucking knew it the whole time, but he ignored it because what better way to deal with your problems than to run away from them, right? Because this wasn’t happening, it couldn’t be happening, Mark was messing with him, he was waiting for him to turn around and cackle in the best Markiplier fashion and say “Haha, goofed ya!” and they can go eat pizza and see Chica and talk to Bob and Wade like they were supposed to…

 

Jack’s heart clenched with anxiety as he felt his own hair like it was foreign to him. He rubbed his ears, wishing and hoping to feel headphones and not fleshy lobes.

 

Panic flooded through him as he met Mark’s eyes, whose face softened as he realized that Jack finally understood. Even though Jack already knew before, when they were fumbling around through the trees. Something about getting smacked in the face by a branch and bushes tearing at your legs were a pretty good indication that something was weird, but the possibility of that being fact scared him more than the Slenderman that was chasing them.

 

 _Well lucky for me, I have the best of both worlds now_ , Jack thought bitterly.

 

Hundreds of questions zipped through Jack’s mind, but there was one that he kept coming back to.

 

“How?” Jack whispered, his voice shaken.

 

“We can worry about that later, right now I don’t want to test the respawnibility if Slender gets us in case death is kinda permanent,” Mark reasoned.

 

He was right. He can freak out and panic later. Jack took a deep breath and nodded, using his fear as fuel to keep moving forward and beat this son of a bitch.

 

Mark let out the breath he had been holding. “Okay, good. I’m freaking out just as much as you, don’t worry,” Mark smiled weakly. “We just need to finish this and see where we go from there.”

 

“Got it,” Jack confirmed.

 

They turned and jogged down the path, being extra careful this time now that things got a little more _real._

Time passed as the pair traversed through the woods. Neither of them spoke so they could listen closely for anyone following them. Jack’s mind raced, trying to stick as close as possible to Mark and his guiding light. How did this happen? Were they actually stuck? What’ll happen if they finish the game? What happens if they _die?_

 

Jack shushed his brain, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other without tripping on anything. He was only freaking himself out.

 

“Look,” Mark whispered, pointing ahead of them. They had gone around a small bend in the path where in the distance through the mist loomed a dark shape of a square building.

 

Just then the static and glitching noises appeared out of nowhere on their right just off the path, startling both of them. The pair screamed, their vision glitching and cutting out as Slenderman’s tall figure appeared before them. Running, now was the time for running!

 

They skirted around the demon monster, sprinting as fast as they could towards the building. Neither of them were quiet or calm anymore.

 

“Fuck you, fuck it, fuck OFF, GO AWAY!” Mark was frantic, the flashlight shining around wildly while they ran.

 

“AHH FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!” Jack yelled repeatedly, right on Mark’s heels and his heart racing with adrenaline.

 

Slender decided that was a great time to appear on the path directly in front of them, their vision cutting in and out to try and disorient them. Mark swore and immediately veered to the right, pushing Jack with him to try and arc around to the building.

 

“Come on, come on, _come on!_ ” Mark growled in panic.

 

They reached the brick building, quickly finding the open doorway where a crooked park sign hung on the wall. Mark and Jack jumped inside, following the hallway filled with tires, broken wood pieces, and old moldy boxes. It smelled musty and old, and normally Jack would have been surprised at the ability to smell video game environments, but he was more distracted about living through this ordeal.

 

“It’s gotta be in here somewhere, where the fuck is it?!” Mark’s voice shook as he peeked into a room with a bathtub, seeing the walls bare. Mark backed up, accidentally shoving into Jack in the process but Jack hardly noticed. He was too busy squinting around the dark hallway walls hoping to see any resemblance of notebook paper, his breath coming fast and heavy and his eyes wide with fear. They quickly moved further into the building where the inner hallway was lined with rusty lockers and several conference rooms branching off from it.

 

Mark jumped over a box and shined his light into a room. Their vision glitched again when Slender appeared in the middle of it, causing them to both scream and run down the hall.

 

“Fuckfuck no no come on, coME ON fuck _fuckfuck_!” Mark was speaking high-pitched scared gibberish at this point, and all Jack could do was mumble “shit” and “fuck” over and over again as he frantically looked around. They were desperate. Playing a horror game and living a horror game were two totally different things. The glitched ringing sound never went away, like Slender was possessing the building itself.

 

They sprinted through an old musty bathroom and into a back hallway where one room stood at the end, trying to see through the ever worsening glitched vision as Slendy closed in on them both.

 

“Fuck cmon, be in here, please be in here...” Jack pleaded as they reached the end. It looked like an info desk with cabinets and overturned chairs.

 

Jack’s heart leapt when he looked at the wall behind the desk and saw the most beautiful piece of paper with creepy drawings on it that he’s ever seen. Mark immediately beelined for it.

 

“Grab it grab it GRAB IT!” Mark screamed, stumbling around the desk and ripped the eighth page off the wall.

 

The ringing didn’t stop. If anything it got louder, and harsher.

 

“What tha fuck?!” Jack asked, jumping over beside Mark behind the desk. “Why isn’t it stoppin’?” The two didn’t move, just waiting. Mark was clenching the page in his hand tightly. It was supposed to stop, it was supposed to go quiet.

 

Suddenly their vision glitched violently and the scratching Slenderman tone violated their ears. Jack covered his own ears and shut his eyes tight, his skin prickling at the feeling. Even with his eyes closed he still saw static like an old VHS tape.

 

“We got all eight, what the fuck do you want?!” Jack heard Mark shout, and then- “Oh, no SHI–”

 

* * *

  


“You know, I get that Jack is visiting and we were late but c’mon man,” Bob complained, hand resting on his chin at his desk. Wade shrugged over the Skype call, not sure what to say.

 

They had been waiting over 45 minutes for Mark or Jack to get online. It was 4pm now, and the four of them were supposed to record a game together. Both users were offline in the Skype list. Neither of them were answering their phones either.

 

“Maybe they got busy?” Wade suggested half heartedly. Bob sighed. Mark is known to just disappear off the face of the planet sometimes, but he was usually good about keeping to their recording plans. Jack, on the other hand, always communicated well. So this silence from both of them was weird.

 

“I’m gonna call Tyler,” Bob said, pulling out his phone. He found his contact and hit the call button, hearing it ring.

 

When _that_ went to voicemail, Bob hung up without leaving a message, aggravated at his friends. He sent him a quick text then dropped his phone on the desk and sighed.

 

“Well, do you want to record something then?” Wade asked. “While we wait?”

 

Bob nodded. “Yeah sure, let’s get _something_ done. Snooze you lose, assholes!”

  


Meanwhile, Tyler was hands deep in hamburger meat chatting away with Ethan in the kitchen. They were making homemade hamburgers and fresh salad for dinner. Chica eagerly sat at attention near them, hoping for a small morsel to drop. Tyler’s phone was on silent on the counter behind them.

  
Upstairs the DSLR camera recorded an empty space, save for a couple of Oculus Touch VR headsets and controllers on the ground.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhhh myyyyy GOOOOODDDD


	16. Chapter 16

Blackness. Silence. Wetness?

 

Jack’s mind was fuzzy, very fuzzy, like he was drunk. He slowly let himself come back into consciousness, taking stock of the position he was in. Jack was on the ground on his side lying atop wet grass, or what felt like wet grass. He kept his eyes closed, listening to and feeling his surroundings.

 

For the moment he focused on the feeling of the damp grass touching his skin. He gently stroked the blades at his fingertips. He heard the familiar sound of wind blowing through trees, the occasional chirp of a bird. The air was crisp but not too cold. It was light out, judging by what he could see through his eyelids.

 

It took him a moment to remember what happened. He was in a building, scared, waiting for something to get him...no, get _them_ … Mark…

 

Mark!

 

Jack’s eyes shot open, squinting at the bright light. He saw trees and tall grass a short distance away, like he was in a field. His head hurt, and he closed his eyes again, groaning while moving to lay on his back. He took a deep breath and opened them again, looking up at a cloudy blue sky. It felt like morning. A couple of birds chirped in the distance.

 

Suddenly someone groaned heavily near him. Jack slowly sat up, careful not to hurt his head further, and looked over at the source of the sound. He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding when his eyes fell on Mark’s body. He was laying on his stomach facing away from Jack, but he could see his shoulders move slightly as he breathed. At least he wasn’t dead.

 

“Mark…?” Jack’s voice was surprisingly raspy, so he cleared his throat and tried again, a little clearer now. “Hey, you awake?”

 

Mark groaned again in response, not moving. Jack rolled his eyes, then leaned over and smacked him in the back.

 

Mark yelped and pushed up on his elbows, glaring at Jack with heavy lidded eyes. “The hell, man,” he said, his voice deep and scratchy. He closed his eyes and rested his forehead on his hands. He looked like hell. Jack felt like it, too.

 

“What happened?” Jack asked, his brain starting to catch up. He had a lot of questions, ones that he knew couldn’t be answered right now.

 

“I don’t fucking know,” Mark snipped into the ground, refusing to look up. Jack knew he wasn’t being malicious on purpose. This wasn’t exactly an ideal situation to wake up in, although he didn’t take Mark to be a grumpy riser.

 

Leaving him alone for now, Jack tried to get up so he could look around properly. His legs were shaky, but he could manage.

 

The two were indeed in a small clearing in the middle of a bunch of trees, just as Jack had guessed. They were near a small hill at the center of the field that dipped down to more trees. _Where tha hell are we…_ Jack thought. An image of Slenderman flashed in his mind, then memories of the previous night came flooding back. Jack’s heart raced and immediately looked down at himself, disappointed to see that he was wearing the blue hoodie, ripped jeans, and bright green shoes that he initially designed his character with. That meant they were still technically in the game. He cautiously touched his own torso, feeling the fabric of the hoodie. It felt so real...and wrong.

 

Jack looked over to Mark who was still on the ground with his head in his hands. He was wearing the same bright pink t-shirt, dark jeans, and gray high-top sneakers that he also designed his character with. Jack’s heart sank, frustration growing. He pushed it aside for now. Getting angry wasn’t going to help whatever situation they were currently in.

 

Jack did note Mark’s bright red hair, which was not what they had originally chose for their characters. He frowned. So what did that mean? That it was their real bodies stuck in a fucking virtual world, but that world was as real as the one they came from? Did Cal have anything to do with this? Did he fucking do this on purpose!? Was this whole thing a fucking trap, was Jack’s apprehension towards this game completely fucking accurate and now they’re fucking stuck here forev–

 

Jack stopped himself. His head whirled with the millions of questions that couldn’t be answered. His heart was racing with anxiety from this whole deal and he hated it. They were in the middle of nowhere, most likely in a fake world where no one could help them. It’s not like he could text anyone, or send a tweet out like “Ha ha, stuck in a video game world with Mark, dunno when we’ll be back to real life!” Jack thought bitterly.

 

Mind running rampant, Jack sat in the grass at the top of the small hill and hugged his knees to his chest. After a moment, he closed his eyes, rested his forehead gently on his knees, and sighed.

 

* * *

 

Mark found Jack sitting on a nearby hill. After collecting himself and coming to terms with whatever shitty situation they were in, Mark had finally stood up from his spot on the ground and ran a hand through his hair. He wasn’t tired, he was pissed. Pissed that they had somehow got in this mess, pissed at that Cal guy for giving them a shifty game, pissed at himself for welcoming it so eagerly… But that didn’t matter right now. They needed to do something about it.

 

Mark stretched and carefully walked over to his friend, taking a quick glance at the surrounding trees before plopping down next to him. He rested his forearms on his knees and clasped his hands while looking over and analyzing Jack. Jack currently had his mouth pressed into his knees, eyes downcast and staring blankly off into nothing. His arms were wrapped tightly around his legs. He looked like hell. Mark didn’t have to ask to know that Jack’s mind was racing just like his had been, especially since Jack hadn’t even acknowledged his presence yet.

 

Mark’s brows furrowed, feeling sympathy towards his companion. “Are you okay?” Mark asked gently. After a moment, Jack’s shoulders moved slightly in a small shrug, eyes still glazed over. At least he was somewhat responsive, Mark thought.

 

Mark fell silent and looked around. He breathed in the fresh forest air, noting that it was starting to get warmer as the sun rose higher in the sky. He had no idea what time it could be, he was never any good at deciphering that from the position of the sun. But if he could take a guess, Mark would bet it was almost noon.

 

“I knew somethin’ wasn’t right…” Jack spoke quietly. Mark waited for him to continue, listening patiently.

 

After a moment and still with a blank stare, Jack spoke again, lifting his chin so he could be heard better. “Tha whole thing felt weird… but I didn’t know why. It didn’t make sense ta suspect anythin’. So I just kept goin’ with it…”

 

Mark nodded silently. The thought of anything fishy never crossed his mind, he was distracted by the excitement of it and distracted by hanging out with Jack and recording with Jack.

 

“I didn’t like the way Cal sounded in his emails, but I didn’t know why I didn’t like it… I thought I was overthinkin’ it and jus’ bein’ paranoid. So I ignored it.”

 

A thought crept into Mark’s mind after a pause. “So… is that why you lied that one time about getting that email from Cal? When he asked how the game was going?”

 

Jack briefly glanced at Mark, then back to the space in front of him. He nodded, admitting his lie. “How did you know?”

 

Mark smirked. “‘Cause you were copied on the email, dumbass.”

 

“Oh.”

 

It didn’t take long for Jack’s depressed demeanor to break. The corners of his mouth twitched upward in a smile. “Well, that was fuckin’ stupid o’ me then, wasn’t it.”

 

“No shit dude,” Mark chuckled. Jack chuckled as well, making Mark smile. He hated seeing the little energetic ball so sad. Mark gently bumped the other’s shoulder with his own. “It’s okay though, I knew you must have had your reasons. You normally don’t do that.”

 

“I was just scared, I guess...but because I couldn’t explain why I was uncomfortable, I felt stupid. Especially when tha game was actually pretty fuckin’ fun,” Jack shared, letting his legs stretch out in front of him. “There wasn’t any reason ta suspect anythin’.”

 

Mark nodded in agreement. “It’s not your fault though, you know that right? Neither of us could predict that _this_ was going to happen,” Mark said, gesturing vaguely around them. “Maybe a computer virus or leaked passwords from a weird game, but not this supernatural bullshit.”

 

Jack looked over at Mark with a frown. “Yer oddly very calm with this.”

 

Mark shook his head, letting some of his anger out in his words. “I’m really not. I wasn’t sleeping, I was fucking _fuming_ that this is even fucking happening right now.” Mark sighed. “But it is what it is I guess.”

 

Jack looked away, then down into his lap. “So what do we do…” His voice was quiet and shy.

 

“We walk!” Mark said with newfound enthusiasm. He jumped up on his feet and spun around to face Jack with a grin on his face. “Basic survival tactics, right? We gotta find shelter!”

 

Jack looked at Mark startled. “But how are we gonna get home?”

 

Mark shrugged. “I dunno, but we’ll figure it out as we go. But the day isn’t getting any younger, we gotta start now!” He held out his hand to Jack, both to help him up and as an invitation to get this adventure rolling.

 

Jack sighed with a small smile and clasped Mark’s hand, letting Mark pull him to his feet. “Okay.”

 

The pair walked down the hill towards the forest, Mark taking a deep forest-air breath. It smelled real, it felt real. The sun warmed his skin, leaves and dirt crunched underfoot, and birds chirped overhead. Mark started to wonder if they were even in a game, maybe they had been kidnapped from Mark’s house and taken somewhere. But it would be hella hot if they were still in California, and he doubted there were any lush forests like this around them. Maybe in the Northwestern part of the US, but not in SoCal. Part of him held onto a hope that they were just abducted, as morbid as that sounds. It’s easier to explain that then convincing people you were stuck in a virtual reality game that was sent to you from a shady person on the internet.

 

“So what was yer first clue?” Jack asked, distracting Mark from his thoughts.

 

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

 

“When you finally realized we weren’t playin’ a game anymore,” Jack said as he stepped over an old log.

 

Mark thought about it, pushing aside a branch. “Honestly? I knew something was off when we were hanging out by the fire and I could feel the heat, yknow? But I just didn’t pay attention to it, and looking back on it now that was a huge red flag. Really it was when I was bleeding, which…” Mark examined the elbow that broke his fall before. “Yep, scabbed over. So that’s real.”

 

They continued on, their environment getting darker the further in the forest they got.

 

“Undertale…fer me,” Jack admitted quietly.

 

“Wait, really? You didn’t even believe me in Slender!”

 

Jack shook his head. “I didn’t want ta believe you. Remember when I felt my hand get squeezed? When the game froze? Which just turned out ta be Flowey fuckin’ with us,” Jack rolled his eyes. “Anyway, that scared tha shit out o’ me. But I thought I was just overthinkin’ it, and what, be like ‘yo so I felt someone try to shake my hand and I really didn’t like that so let’s stop kay’ like that sounds _stupid_.”

 

Mark chuckled. “Can’t blame ya there. So, do you think we’re still in a game?”

 

“I can’t fuckin’ tell, man. All this is messin’ with ma brain hole. It looks n’ feels real but we’re wearin’ tha same clothes we created our characters with, _and_ you still have that scrape. But our hair is real and the trees are real so I dunno what ta believe anymore. Gah, fuckin’ get out of my way…” Jack mumbled, trying and failing to step over a tree sprig, nearly tripping on it.

 

Mark was in the same mindset, so he didn’t have much to add. But as they stepped out of a group of trees where the sun could shine through better, a horrid smell hit him. He scrunched up his nose and stopped walking. “What the fuck is that _smell?_ ”

 

“Jesus Christ... “ Jack had the perfect definition of stank face going on. It smelled rotten and sour.

 

Mark looked around them for the source of the smell but couldn’t see anything. He walked a little further, moving around a tall bush. “Holy shit,” Mark said in surprise. “Are those suitcases?”

 

Behind the bush was an array of several travel bags and hard top suitcases scattered around. Some were blown open with clothes everywhere, others were still shut tight. The weird thing was, they looked like they hadn’t been there long. The exposed clothes were still dry and clean looking while the closed cases were spotless, like someone had carefully placed them there.

 

“What tha fuck?” Jack said, also surprised. “Where the hell did these come from?”

 

“No idea…” Mark walked over to one of the unopened suitcases and rolled it over. On one handle looked like the remnants of a torn off airline tag. The other cases were the same, if not completely removed.

 

Jack had walked around, seeing how many suitcases there were before covering his nose with his hoodie. “Mark I’m gonna be sick if we don’t leave soon,” he said, voice muffled by the fabric. “It’s worse over here.”

 

Mark got up and walked over to where Jack was standing. Sure enough, the stench was much more potent. He peered into the forest, just seeing a bunch of tree trunks and bushes. But then he saw one skinny stick that was standing upright near them, some feathers or leaves sticking out of the top. Mark walked closer, pinching his nose so he didn’t have to smell the putrid air, until he saw the source of their misery.

 

Flies whizzed around the standing stick savagely. Mark couldn’t decipher what he was looking at until he walked around to look at it from a different angle, then his eyes went wide. “Oh my fucking god...”

 

“Is that a fuckin’ _HEAD?!_ ” Jack yelled in horror, carefully backing away from the object in question.

 

The object on the stick was a human head. Or rather, a rotting human head. The eyes were missing, the skin was bloated and yellow, almost unrecognizable. Feathers, sticks, and leaves stuck out of the top of the caved in cranium. Did that happen before or after the poor bastard had his head chopped off? The skull ornament combined with the freshly abandoned suitcases were all the clues Mark needed to figure out what was happening. He groaned.

 

“Jesus Christ… are we in The Forest?”

 

Jack hesitated. “Wait, like the _game?!_ ” When Mark nodded, albeit angrily, Jack then dropped his head back in exasperation. “Aw, _come on_! Really?!”

 

Mark couldn’t look at the effigy anymore, the hollow rotten eyeholes of an unknown person made his stomach turn. This was much more haunting and horrible seeing it in person instead of over a screen. He quickly moved away to stand next to Jack, clutching his hands into fists.

 

“What, are we just supposed to _survive_ out here?!” Mark complained, his anger returning full force. Any hope he had that maybe they were just kidnapped went out the window. They were still fucking playing, _still_ stuck in this bullshit. _Why?!_ He looked up towards the sky and began shouting, suddenly feeling like some overmind was watching their every move. “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT FROM US, CAL?! JUST FUCKING–”

 

“ _Mark!_ ” Jack shouted urgently, hitting his arm. “Shut _up!_ ”

 

Mark whirled on him, ready to snap. “Excuse–”

 

“The cannibals!”

 

“The…? Oh...shit,” Mark sighed, rubbing his face in annoyance. If they made a lot of noise, the cannibals would be able to hear them and come after them, and he had a funny feeling there wasn’t a respawn feature in this particular game mode. _Great._

  
Mark looked at Jack apologetically, then back at the mess in front of them. He crossed his arms, trying to calm down and think about this. “So...now what?”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're in it now! But it's just gonna get worse from here >:P
> 
> How would you react if you woke up in the same situation as them?


	17. Chapter 17

After deciding on a direction that seemed to head for a lighter part of the forest than the dark and more dense part, the two set off in hopes of finding the beach or water so they could make an attempt to get their bearings. If this really was The Forest, they needed somewhere to camp out before it got dark, and hopefully find some supplies along the way.

 

Jack was feeling a little better after Mark’s peptalk. Sometimes a kick in the ass is all an Irishman needs to get their shit together. But like Mark, his newfound energy was more fueled by anger than anything else. He has no idea how the hell they’re going to get out of this mess, but shit is going to fly once they do and they find this Cal dude. Cause fuck that guy.

 

The pair hiked, making idle chit chat to pass the time. Jack worked hard to keep his spirits up instead of succumbing to the idea that they were never going to get ou–

 

Nope. Stop that right now.

 

Jack sighed to himself, looking up at the sunlight gleaming through the trees. He smiled a little, remembering his little cabin in the woods. The air smelled genuine, the wind rustling gently through the trees sounded calming. For a moment he ignored the fact that they may be stuck in a video game and imagined that this was just an impromptu hike he was having with one of his best friends, all for fun.

 

Mark chuckled quietly, causing Jack to look at him. “What?”

 

Mark shook his head. “Nothing, I was just thinking. This was one of the first games we collaborated on together. God, that was awhile ago.”

 

Jack smiled. “Like, 2014 right?”

 

“Jesus, has it been that long? Feels like forever.” Jack agreed. A lot has happened since then.

 

Just then a bush with several berries caught Jack’s attention as they were walking by. He stopped walking and examined the berries. They were a deep blue, but not blueberries by any means. He looked up and saw another bush with white ones, then looked back down at the one in front of him. A smile slowly formed on his face, then picked a handful of the blue ones.

 

“Hey...hey Mark!” Jack walked over to his friend and showed him what was in his hand. “Berries blue good for you, right?”

 

After a moment, Mark caught on to the joke and then suddenly laughed loudly. “Berries white, full of shite!”

 

“Cause they’re not alright!” Jack laughed with him, then looked down at the berries in his hand.

 

“Let’s try one!” Mark suggested enthusiastically.

 

Jack shrugged, both taking a berry. If this was the game, then these should not only be safe, but give them health! Jack carefully placed the berry in his mouth while Mark popped it in like it was candy. Jack hesitated before biting down on the foreign fruit, then waited.

 

He was surprised to find that the berry tasted rather good, albeit bitter. But it was definitely edible. Honestly he was expecting his mouth to go numb or his throat to close up.

 

“Not bad,” said Mark, smacking his lips a little. He grabbed some more berries from Jack’s palm and beamed at him. “This’ll be a great hiking snack. Great find!”

 

Jack smiled back and dumped the rest of the berries in his mouth. “If we get tha shits later, then we’ll know why.”

 

“Oh, I sincerely hope not. We don’t have any toilet paper for that.”

 

Jack pondered a moment. “Leaves?”

 

“Have _you_ ever wiped your ass with a leaf?”

 

Jack couldn’t help but laugh at the question. “No, no I haven’t.”

 

“Well neither have I, and I don’t wanna start now.”

 

“Jesus Christ,” chuckled Jack.

 

After the successful berry experiment, the two marched on. Jack was getting tired, he felt like they’ve been walking forever. You don’t get much restful sleep when you wake up on the ground in the middle of a forest. He was about to suggest setting up camp at the next small clearing they came to when he started noticing several broken branches on the ground. He looked up, trying to see what might have caused so much damage. But soon branches turned into actual split in half trees, and that put them both on high alert.

 

The pair continued carefully, traversing around the broken limbs and trunks as best they could without twisting an ankle. Mark pointed out a bright open area a short distance in front of them. They trudged on until Mark nearly tumbled over a particularly large log, but he was now out in the open.

 

“Finally! Let’s– whoa, holy _shit_!” Mark shouted in surprise. He looked back at Jack, who was busy heaving himself over the same log Mark struggled with. He pointed with his thumb and said, “I found the plane.”

 

“What?” Jack asked, falling forward on his feet. He brushed off his front and looked up, eyes going wide. “Oh.”

 

The tail end of a jetliner aircraft was just a mere 10 feet in front of them. The enormous cabin was dug into the ground, dirt and rocks and stumps overturned at its belly. Both wings were ripped off, probably at the bottom of the ocean somewhere. The two smaller horizontal stabilizer wings on the end were heavily damaged, a chunk missing from the right side. The vertical wing was still in tact.  The “clearing” they thought they saw was actually the aftermath of the crash. Tops of trees were broken off, if not completely uprooted. Luggage and seats from the plane were sprawled everywhere. The whole area looked like a disaster zone.

 

“Jesus Christ that’s huge,” Jack exclaimed in awe.

 

“That’s what she said,” Mark smirked, earning a slap on the arm.

 

They walked around the cabin, or half of the cabin rather. The whole front end of the plane was missing, ripped apart in the middle. If Jack didn’t know any better, he would have suspected they were on the set of _Lost._

 

When they reached the front of the remainder of the plane and could see into the cabin, Jack noticed something odd. It wasn’t the torn in half plane or the sprawled luggage, it was the lack of bodies.

 

“Were there bodies in tha game?” Jack asked.

 

“I think it’s implied that everyone was dragged away by the cannibals. I thought the same thing.” Mark looked around, then walked closer to the cabin. He visibly grimaced and gestured inside. “Yeah, look.”

 

Jack stepped closer and could see the dried blood smears, like something...some _one_ was dragged off. A shiver ran up his spine at the thought.

 

“Are they gonna come back?”

 

Mark shook his head. “I doubt it. They picked clean what they wanted by now.” Suddenly Mark jumped up on a log that was sticking out from underneath the body of the plane, using that as leverage to get inside the cabin. The bottom cargo part was caved in, probably from the force of the impact, but not before it had released its contents everywhere around them.

 

“Uh, are ya sure ‘bout that?” Jack asked nervously.

 

Mark scoffed at Jack’s hesitation. “What, it’s not gonna break! Well, not anymore.” He gave Jack one last confident smile then climbed inside, making sure to avoid the blood stains.

 

Jack was going to wait to see what Mark could find, but shrugged and thought “fuck it” and climbed in after him. The cabin was tilted to the left and slightly slanted down, like the tail was dug further into the dirt from momentum. This made walking awkward but not impossible. Several of the seats closest to the opening were missing, but the ones furthest inside towards the back were all intact. Broken tray tables, empty cups and cans, and various handbags littered the floor and seats, oxygen masks hanging over them. Most of the overhead compartments remained shut, only a few torn open by the force of impact. The plane felt eerie, especially since Jack was just on one very similar only a few days ago.

 

“Aha!” Mark was in the back area where the rear bathrooms and flight attendant area was scrounging through the cabinets. He had lifted one hatch and found several large water bottles and airplane pretzels stashed inside.

 

“Nice!” Jack said happily. “Pretzels, water, and berries. All part of a complete breakfast.”

 

“Breakfast?” Mark asked, questioning Jack’s joke with a smirk. “Who has pretzels for breakfast?”

 

“Well, when ya got nothin’ else ta eat, you can’t exactly be choosy,” Jack reasoned.

 

Mark turned to grab a couple bottles from the hatch. “Must be an Irish thing,” he mumbled, but still loud enough for Jack to hear.

 

“Must be an American thing ta be a _doofer_.”

 

“The biggest doof to ever doof! Here,” Mark handed Jack a bottle then opened his own for a swig. After he swallowed, he glanced around at the seats. “Wanna just set up camp in here?”

 

Jack made a noise of question through his mouthful of water. He quickly gulped it down. “What, here? In tha plane?” Mark nodded. “But, isn’t that obvious? What if they come back?”

 

“They won’t,” Mark boasted confidently. “Ooorrr we have to sleep out in the elements, where they can surely stab us in the butt.”

 

Jack smirked at that, but Mark had a point. At least in here they had shelter. And it was starting to get dark…

 

“Alright fine, we’ll go _your_ way. I don’t have anythin’ better ta suggest,” Jack said. “Ya know what we should do though is get a buncha those suitcases outside. We can use tha clothes to sleep on, yeh?”

 

Mark’s face brightened, but then grimaced. “That’s a little weird to use dead people’s clothes as bedding, but whatever!”

 

Jack shrugged, a sad smile on his face. “What is even normal at this point.”

  


* * *

  


Several hours later the sun began setting, but it already seemed dark in their neck of the woods since the trees blocked out any sun past a certain point. The air cooled considerably after the sunlight went away, which made their small metal fortress a welcome hideout.

 

At the torn opening of the plane cabin were several stacked and empty suitcases, their contents now being used as a crude form of a bed spread across two adjacent rows of seats at the very back. Also, while Jack had conveniently designed his character with a hoodie, Mark did not. Luckily someone packed a soft dark gray sweatshirt in their bag that fit Mark nicely.

 

They found more than just clothes, however. A guy had a flashlight in his bag that they propped against the wall for some light, since starting a fire inside the cabin would probably be a bad idea. They had their airline pretzels and bush berries, so they would be fine for the night. Theoretically. But they did find a lighter just in case they need to make a fire in the near future.

 

“Do you have any twos?”

 

“Go fishin’, Fischbach.”

 

They even found a deck of cards.

 

…What? Were you expecting they found _other_ things in these suitcases? Get your mind out of the gutter.

 

Mark chuckled as he reached for a new card from the deck in front of him. The pair were sat on the floor in their respective rows playing Go Fish in the aisle. Jack rested his elbow on his knee with his chin in his hand, the other holding his cards. What else are you supposed to do to pass the time if you can’t check Twitter or Tumblr.

 

Mark laughed again at the card he picked up. The cards they found weren’t your normal everyday deck. Someone was recently in Vegas because every card featured a stripper. Male strippers. And on the back in glittery bold swirly letters said _VIVA LAS VEGAS!_

 

Okay, so your mind wasn’t completely wrong.

 

“Check out the abs on that guy,” Mark chuckled, showing Jack the card for him to see.

 

Jack peered closely at the image and smirked. “I could never get that stomach again. Also, thanks fer showing me yer five.”

 

Mark pulled the card back to him with his eyebrow raised. “Well. Do you got any fives?”

 

“No. And it’s my turn, you ass,” Jack chuckled. He looked back down on his cards. Jack’s smile only got bigger when he smugly asked, “Do you have any fives?”

 

“Fuck you!” Mark grinned and threw his new card at the other. Jack shielded himself, giggling away as he gently placed both fives on the floor next to him.

 

“Why couldn’t you get abs again?” Mark asked, peering at his cards. “Threes?”

 

Jack wordlessly handed Mark a three of hearts and shrugged. “I love pizza too much.”

 

Mark smirked and shook his head. He had a fair point.

 

Soon the pair decided to call it a night. It was dark enough and they didn’t want to waste their flashlight too much longer. After packing up the cards in its little box and placed it on the floor near his sleeping spot, Jack flipped up his hood and went to lay on his makeshift bed. It wasn’t comfortable by any means really, but it was still better than the floor.

 

Jack was tired. He hoped he’d be able to sleep somewhat okay that night. He watched Mark get up and stretch, motioning outside.

 

“Gotta take a leak.”

 

Jack nodded, letting himself relax. They’d figure this out. Somehow they would get home... They had to. He shut his eyes, willing his mind to quiet down.

 

That lasted all of two seconds when a hand that definitely wasn’t his own suddenly covered his mouth. His eyes shot open, adrenaline rushing through his veins and went to swing his arm but stopped at the sight of Mark urgently shushing him. He had a very worried expression on his face, which set off red flags immediately.

 

“What–”

 

“Shhh… I think the cannibals are outside,” Mark whispered. “I saw something when I was pissing, and I don’t think it was a deer…”

 

Jack swore under his breath. “What do we do?!”

 

“We need to–” Mark went silent, his head whipping up to the opening of the plane.

 

Jack’s heart beat so fast he thought it was going to pop out of his chest. Mark wanted them to hide. Could they fight them? How many were there? Hiding was probably their best bet right now. They didn’t have any way to defend themselves.

 

Mark glanced around. Something caught his eye above him. “Jack, do you think you can fit up there?” He pointed to the storage compartment above the seats.

 

“I...I can try...are ya sure?” Jack whispered. He’s seen photos of people climbing up there for shits and giggles, so he should be able to. “Wait, what about you?!”

 

Mark looked around again, then pointed to one of the cabinets. “I can go in there. Hurry!”

 

Jack nodded, quietly getting up from his spot and peeked outside. It was very dark now. He couldn’t see anything but he didn’t want to take a chance. He opened up the overhead compartment and pulled out the couple of bags that were left inside, setting them on the floor. Placing his foot carefully on one of the armrests, he hoisted himself up and hooked his right leg in the compartment. It creaked, and for a moment Jack was scared it would break and he should probably not do this, but then he felt Mark pushing his other half inside with a quiet grunt. Jack tucked his right arm underneath him and folded his legs in as much as possible.

 

Mark stepped back, breathing heavy. Not out of exertion but out of fear, Jack guessed. “Okay,” he whispered. Something tumbled outside and Mark’s breath caught. He stepped closer, putting his head close to Jack’s so he could speak as quietly as possible. “I’m gonna close it but not all the way. Hold it, but don’t latch it, just in case you need to get out fast.” Mark spoke quickly in a hushed whisper. But before Jack could respond, he pulled it down for Jack to grab, then quietly snuck away.

 

Jack could hear Mark scrambling with the cabinet. It wasn’t very big, he hoped Mark could find a way to hide himself. Moments later it went very quiet.

 

Jack’s breathing was loud in his ears, it almost sounded like he was screaming. He could see a small sliver of the floor below him as he gripped the door tightly. Minutes passed. Nothing happened. Jack’s joints started to complain about the awkward position he was in, and the arm underneath him felt tingly.

 

His heart stopped altogether when he heard several of the suitcases they left stacked at the opening tumble over, and he silently thanked themselves for unthinkingly putting them there as a makeshift alarm. He heard grunts and mumbles, definitely not deer. But hearing something climb _inside_ the cabin made Jack almost squeak, and he hid his face in his arm to try and muffle the sound of his breathing.

 

Silence again. His chest was tight as he strained his ears to listen harder. He heard something kick the suitcase that was in the aisle, followed by agitated sounds. What little vision Jack had of the floor was suddenly obscured and he held his breath. The cannibal or whatever it was was _fucking five inches from his face_. He hoped to any god out there that cannibals don’t know what planes are or how to operate handles.

 

What he didn’t expect was the smell. Old, rotting body odor filled his nostrils and he desperately struggled not to cough and give away his hiding spot. He guessed it made sense...these people ate the flesh of others and were constantly covered in blood. Smell was something you just didn’t experience when playing video games… which again dimly reminded him that this definitely _wasn’t_ a game anymore...

 

“GAHDAA!” It shouted, causing Jack to jump harshly. He wasn’t expecting him to scream. He covered his mouth and nose as best he could, nearly suffocating himself to try and not make an noise. He screwed his eyes shut and concentrated on keeping his breathing and hand steady.

 

Another shout, but this time from outside. The creature, he guesses male from the noises it was making, shouted a response. It was just noise, nothing coherent Jack could make out, but this meant there were definitely more of them, and they were communicating. Possibly scouts for the tribe?

 

The thing moved forward and Jack could hear it scuffling through the clothes and what little things they found. He could hear it sniff the clothes, sounding agitated by what he was finding. A crunch, and a sound of plastic rustling. _The pretzels!_ Jack thought in his head. Maybe he was hungry…? But then he seemed to move further ahead, where the cabinets were...where Mark was.

 

Jack started to panic, he didn’t know how well Mark was hidden or if he knew how close this thing was. He was debating on making some sort of noise to draw him away from his friend but another shout, followed by another, sounded from outside. It caught the thing’s attention, who howled in response and then quickly jogged back outside to rendezvous with his buddies. Jack could hear them hollering as they ran off. Maybe they found some prey to hunt. Moments later it was quiet again. They were gone.

 

Jack’s lungs were _screaming_. He let the hatch open itself up and he gasped for air, glad that he could finally breathe without worry of something unwanted hearing him. It was suddenly too cramped in there, he needed out, right now. Jack let himself slide out of the compartment, nearly ripping his jeans further in the process. He tumbled down, falling backwards in a seat but quickly scrambled back up.

 

“Mark–”

 

He whirled around to see Mark fighting with the door of the cabinet he was in, finally squeezing himself out, a metal axe in one hand. Mark looked up at Jack, concern heavy on his face. “Are you alright?! Jesus fucking Christ, I thought he was going to find you, it took everything in me to not jump out and distract him!” Mark spoke frantically, his voice trembling in half a whisper.

 

Jack just nodded. “I’m fine, it’s okay, that was probably tha most terrifyin’ fuckin’ thing I’ve ever experienced but I’m okay.” He wasn’t lying, even horror movies didn’t make him feel as scared as that, not even video games. Wait– “Where in tha hell did you get that??” Jack asked, pointing at the axe. It was the modernized red one that you normally start out in the game with.

 

Mark looked down, then back up with excitement. “It was in the back of the cabinet! I can’t believe I missed it before.”

 

“Why tha fuck was an axe even in there?!”

 

“I don’t know! I was ready to bash that guy’s fucking face in if he wasn’t going to leave.”

 

Jack nodded, glad that Mark had a defense in place just in case, unlike himself. He collapsed back in a chair, his head in his hands. The adrenaline was leaving his body and he was suddenly _so_ tired.

 

“Should we stay here? What if they come back? Yer a fuckin’ liar by the way,” Jack accused, giving Mark a pointed look. “They did come back.”

 

“How the fuck was I supposed to know?!” Mark exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air in frustration. “I’m just lucky I fucking saw them before they saw us!”

 

Jack looked down. Mark had a point, it wasn’t his fault. “Sorry, I know,” Jack mumbled. It was the fear talking, he knew that. He shook his head, waving a hand to dismiss the topic and continued to speak. “I think in tha mornin’ we leave ‘n find somewhere else ta go. It can’t be safe ta stay here...”

 

Mark agreed. For now they would stay in the plane, just for the night. Tomorrow they would leave and seek solace elsewhere. It was too dangerous to stay here in case the cannibals would come back again. Jack knew the thing could smell something, maybe smell him? What would have happened if he found him in the compartment?! He would have been a sitting duck! Jack shuddered at the thought of what could have happened.

 

As if on autopilot, Jack moved to his makeshift bed. It felt hard and cold as he lay back, propping himself up against the wall. Mark mirrored his actions, holding the axe in his lap.

 

Try as he might, Jack couldn’t calm his nerves. It was too close, every sound made him jump, and he couldn’t get comfortable. He tried concentrating on the little light symbol next to the air tube above him. He tried singing songs in his head to distract him. Hell, he even tried counting sheep with his eyes closed. Fuck… this was pointless.

 

After a while, Jack opened his eyes to the darkness above him and whispered. “Mark?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“I can’t sleep.”

 

Jack heard him sigh. “Me neither.”

 

Silence fell between them again, until Jack heard a snort come from Mark’s direction. Confused, he sat up and peered into the darkness. “Mark?” Another snort, followed by a quiet giggle. Jack frowned. “What tha fook are you laughin’ at?” _How is this a time to laugh?_

 

Mark sat up, a stupid smile on his face. “You know how I woke you up after being outside?”

 

Jack remembered the momentary panic he had when a hand suddenly covered his mouth, before he realized it was Mark. Jack squinted in confusion, not understanding and starting to get frustrated. “Yeh? What about it?”

 

Mark giggled again, trying very hard to stay quiet. Jack huffed. Finally, Mark composed himself enough to speak. “Second hand dick touch.”

  
“Wh… oh my _fuckin’ Jesus Christ, asshole._ ” Jack grabbed the deck of cards they played with earlier and hurled the box in Mark’s direction, causing the offender to cackle harder.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Fact #7: I actually own that deck of cards. My roommate went to Vegas for his birthday and that was his gift to me :P


	18. Chapter 18

Neither of them slept. The threat of “what if they return” hung over them too heavily for any kind of peaceful rest to take place.

 

The moment the sky started to brighten, they packed up what they could in a bag to take with them, including water, an extra jacket, the lighter, their new fancy playing cards, the axe, and of course, the pretzels. After sadly waving goodbye to the crash site, Mark and Jack reentered the forest.

 

There was very little talking between them. A stressful night resulting in no sleep really fucks with you. Mark would do anything for a coffee right about now, and he know Jack felt the same. It was like a bunch of cotton balls filled up his brain and it was all he could do to focus on moving forward without tripping over something.

 

Eventually though, the further they walked and the higher the sun rose, movement and warmth slowly woke the duo up. Jack quietly shared a story about wandering off into the woods when he was young and almost getting lost, and Mark listened intently while absentmindedly swinging the axe in front of him, acting like he was cutting through the tall grass. Afterward Mark told Jack about his and his brother’s adventures in the woods behind their house when they were little and the stupid shit they got into. Talking helped pass the time, and distracted them from their situation for a little while.

 

They wandered aimlessly, not knowing what to look for or where to go. They just picked a direction, walked, and didn’t stop or turn around. Doing so ensured they wouldn’t double back on themselves and get lost, and going straight means eventually they would come across _something._

 

About midday is when luck befell them. Mark pushed passed some overgrown bushes and spotted the treeline, sand, and a large body of water.

 

“Whoa hey! We found the beach!”

 

Jack pushed through behind him, his eyes going wide at the sight. “Holy shit, das a lotta water!”

 

They were in some sort of bay on the island, an inlet of water surrounded by mostly land but opened up to the ocean beyond. The grass extended beyond the treeline where it gradually morphed into sand. The shore was a mix of sandy and grassy areas with large rocky cliff formations. It was pretty, actually.

 

The area was also scattered with an assortment of suitcases once again, but that wasn’t important right now. The two hurriedly jogged their way to the water’s edge, happy to see sky and sunshine again instead of dense trees. Now that they knew they were playing The Forest, seeing suitcases anywhere was considered normal.

 

“At least the water isn’t glitched out,” Mark smirked, remembering their playthrough. When the game was still in very early access the water never loaded into Mark’s game, but it did for Jack. So Mark could run along the bottom while Jack floated above him, swimming in air. It was rather hilarious, and _so_ broken.

 

Jack laughed at the memory. “Thank god fer that, we don’t need that nonsense.”

 

Mark didn’t expect to smell the salty ocean air as they got closer. Smell was still something to get used to, as scent and video games don’t usually coincide. That’s one part of virtual reality they haven’t simulated yet.

 

_Well...until now, I guess._

 

“I think now is a perfect time for a break!” shouted Mark, dropping the bag he carried and plopping himself down in the sand, resting the axe next to him and happy to finally be off his feet for a little bit. Jack shared his sentiments and did the same, sighing happily.

 

Mark dug in his bag and took out the pretzels and a bottle of water. He handed Jack a bag and stuck the water bottle in between them in the sand. “This is pretty nice, yknow if you ignore the part where we’re forcibly stuck in a virtual world and there’s cannibals somewhere behind us,” Mark said matter-of-factly.

 

“Yeh, super relaxin’,” Jack chuckled, munching on a pretzel.

 

A few minutes of staring out over the water passed before Mark spoke up. “So how does building work, like we don’t have a menu to access or magical strength to cut down a tree and carry three logs. Well, maybe I do,” Mark smirked, flexing his arms. Jack rolled his eyes and elbowed him in the side, making Mark cave and yelp.

 

“Maybe we can find a tent or somethin’, those were always scattered everywhere,” Jack suggested.

 

“Hmm... that could work.”

 

“We just need ta find one.”

 

When they each finished a pack of pretzels, Mark got up and cracked open a few of the suitcases closest to them with his axe. They were able to recover a couple chocolate bars and some accountant paperwork that he figured they could use as a fire starter. Jack is the one who scored big though. He grinned widely held up a navy blue backpack, quite an upgrade from the small plastic bags they were using.

 

After transferring all their findings into the backpack, Mark volunteered to carry it first. They continued their journey along the shore in search of a place to camp out. Mark dragged the axe behind him, digging a trail in the sand alongside their tracks. Jack found a stick and copied his actions, making his own line. Sometimes you just need the little things to amuse you.

 

“At least we don’t have ta find Billy,” Jack commented. Normally you needed to rescue your son who was abducted by the cannibals, but thankfully that wasn’t an objective they needed to deal with this time.

 

Jack converted his stick into a walking stick when the terrain became more rocky and less sandy. Mark rested the axe on his shoulder. They stayed up on the grassy field near the trees instead of in the sand just in case the shore disappeared. The further they walked, the colder it got. Clouds started rolling in from the ocean, and soon the sun was completely hidden.

 

“I guess things can’t always be perfect,” Mark observed, looking up at the gray sky. He hoped it wasn’t going to rain.

 

When he felt a cold drop on his cheek, he glared harshly at the sky as if it personally offended him.

 

They didn’t find any tents, which was annoying because Mark distinctly remembered there being several before. When the wind started to pick up, the duo decided to give up their search for tents and instead find a spot to hide out in.

 

Mark ran to the top of a grassy hill. Down below near the beach tucked against a rock face looked like some abandoned triangular stick huts. Other survivors? But as Mark got closer he saw the border of effigies surrounding the encampment, like a way to announce that this was definitely cannibal property. The effigies were old, and the heads no longer held flesh. The dingey gray skulls were stained with it’s own rotten flesh that had been gone for who knows how long.

 

They both steered clear of the camp, no matter how abandoned and empty it looked, just in case the tribe came back to it for whatever reason.

 

Further down the rocky part of the shore the beach came to a point, then dipped back. They seemed to be at the shallower end of the bay now. The point was a small cliff several hundred feet from the water where it was still a mix of grass and sand. A large boulder tucked on the outside of the cliff on the ground created a small cave that was mostly hidden from view. The ground was sand and grass, like it was once carved out by the waves a long time ago, but this hasn’t seen ocean water in a very long time.

 

It was perfect.

 

Wordlessly, the two dropped their stuff inside and set out to find sticks for a fire. Jack picked up old drift wood from the beach while Mark used his axe to chop up small saplings.

 

Mark soon returned with an armful of wood, finding Jack observing their new hideout. After dumping his sticks next to Jack’s pile, he brushed off his hands and stretched. “Whatcha thinkin’ bout?” Mark asked in a goofy voice.

 

“It needs somethin’ else,” contemplated Jack. “The wind is gonna fuck us up.” The wind definitely was picking up and the temperature was dropping. If it was going to rain, they didn’t want to be caught out in it.

 

Jack rubbed his neck in thought, then glanced around them, eyes resting on something off in the distance. “Okay, so this might sound crazy…”

  


* * *

  


Mark breathed heavily, concentrating on side shuffling safely without tripping over his own feet. Jack gritted his teeth, shuffling along the sand next to him.

 

“Almost...there…” Mark grunted out, ignoring the wind slapping his face.

 

Mark and Jack had ran back to the abandoned cannibal camp they passed earlier and, essentially, stole a hut. By stole a hut, I mean they took off the two walls that were leaning against each other and were now bringing one to their new hideout. Mark carried one end of the wall while Jack carried the other. Mark’s forehead was wet with sweat from the effort of heaving these heavy as fuck wood walls across the sand. This was still faster than finding sticks to create it themselves, although much, much harder. They already had brought one over to their camp and were now retrieving the other, moving quickly while trying not to scrape themselves too badly on the rough wood.

 

Mark had heard thunder in the distance a few moments earlier, giving them both a burst of energy to hurry the fuck up before the rain hit fully, although it was already sprinkling lightly.

 

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ…” Jack grumbled. His arms were tired and shaking, Mark could see.

 

“Just a little bit...further…” Mark breathed, adjusting his grip.

 

Finally, they propped the wall next to the other one and Mark let his arms drop, flexing his fingers. Jack was bent over, breathing hard.

 

After a few moments when Mark caught his breath, he waved to get Jack’s attention. “We’re almost done, we just need to get these up.”

 

“Whose fuckin’ idea was this?! This is _stupid!_ ” Jack complained dramatically. When Mark shot him a look, Jack chuckled. “I know I know, I just didn’t think these were gonna be this _heavy_.”

 

Mark rolled his eyes and motioned to the wall they just carried. They figured they could prop them up on one side, covering the mouth of the cave and using one of them like a door. Then the fire could be on the other side so it still had air to breathe but wouldn’t set their new walls ablaze either. It was goofy, but it worked.

 

Next, Jack went to work on building a makeshift fire pit in the sand while Mark went to gather more sticks and dried grass. He had emptied the backpack in their cave and used that as a way to carry more wood, and one of the bags to gather any berries he may run across.

 

They worked quickly, trying to beat the incoming rainstorm barreling over the water. When the first few heavy raindrops splashed on Mark’s face, that was his cue to turn and hightail it back to their cave, luckily with a full backpack of sticks and branches and a couple handfuls of berries. He jogged down the slope towards the beach, around the corner with his axe swinging in hand, and ducked inside.

 

Jack looked up when Mark jumped in and smiled. “Welcome home!” He said cheerily. Mark looked around, surprised to find that Jack had made the perfect little campout for them. The fire pit was ready to go, complete with a ring of rocks. Their small amount of stuff was laid out in the corner for them to have easy access (yes, even the deck of cards). The grass that had been inside and around the small cave was now laid out like a small bed near the fire to keep themselves off the sand.

 

“Wow Jack! Nice!” Mark praised, then turned to show off the backpack. “I got a ton of sticks for us too.”

 

“Great cause I’m cold and would really like a fire right about now,” Jack said, rubbing his hands together to warm them up. As he turned to grab the lighter, a loud crack of thunder and lightning resounded all around them, making Mark jump. Jack grinned from ear to ear. “Oh now we’re campin’!”

 

After about 20 minutes of wind interference, an abnormally large amount of swearing, and Mark trying to help but not really helping, Jack finally had a small fire going. It wasn’t much but they could at least thaw out their fingers if they huddled close enough.

 

They sat side by side, legs criss-crossed and Mark’s small bag of berries between them, chatting about little things while watching the storm roll over their little hideout. It was dark now with the rain coming down in sheets, lightning offering small glimpses of the dark world beyond and thunder accentuating the show, booming so loud it rumbled the ground beneath them.

 

Mark loved storms, he loved the rain, and Jack got giddy every time the thunder crashed. For a moment, they enjoyed their time here.

  
But just for a moment.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Little bit of a shorter chapter this weekend. Filler chapter woes :P Hang in there you lovely fantabulous readers, next chapter is gonna get interesting!


	19. Chapter 19

“I wonder how we’ve survived this long,” Mark questioned while simultaneously dropping a handful of berries in his mouth.

 

Jack chuckled. “Do ya really think we’d suck that bad?”

 

“Yep.”

 

Jack smirked. “Yeh, yer right.” He looked down at the berries in his hand, picking one up and rolling it between his fingers.

 

“I feel like we should be freaking out more than we are,” Mark thought out loud, pausing to drop the last of his berries in his mouth, humming happily at the taste. “But this whole situation is so bizarre that I’ve given up on trying to understand it.”

 

Jack hummed in agreement, crushing the berry he was holding in his fingers before eating it.

 

The storm had subsided. The sound of gentle rain filled the darkness outside of their little cave. Jack was tired, very tired. Their small fire warmed his face, and his eyes drooped the longer he stared at it. His elbow now rested on his knee, chin in hand.

 

This _was_ bizarre. He still had no idea how they were going to get out. All he could do was hope. _At least I’m not alone,_ Jack thought.

 

He glanced at Mark, who was dissecting another berry with his fingers. Jack sighed, opening his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Mark.

 

“Don’t get all sappy with me.”

 

Jack closed his mouth and furrowed his eyebrows, resting the side of his head on his hand to face Mark better. “What?”

 

“You’ve got that look, like you’re gonna tell me all the things you wished you could have done before you die.” Mark was still concentrating on the berry as he spoke, but then he stuck it in his mouth before directing his attention to Jack, the fire illuminating his face and making his expression look more intense than it actually was. “We’re not gonna die. We’re going to get out of this. We’re going to go home. Got that?”

 

Jack was so sleepy he didn’t realize the grin he now had. Mark with his unending determination, even in the face of uncertainty and unknown challenges.

 

“I know. I was just gonna tell ya that if I’m gonna be stuck in a video game, at least I’m not alone,” Jack said. “This would be much less fun without a buddy.”

 

“That’s still sappy!” Mark shouted to the air, making Jack chuckle tiredly.

 

Jack eventually laid down on his side as close to the fire as he dared, head near Mark so he could still talk. But the combination of the previous night’s lack of sleep, the warmth of the fire, and the sound of the rain, it didn’t take long for Jack to slip into a deep sleep.

  


* * *

  


Early the next morning, Jack trudged through the damp forest, squinting through tired eyes and arms crossed together with his sweatshirt hood up to try and keep himself warm. The sky was overcast following the storm the previous night, occasionally sprinkling rain. Jack slept fine until the fire eventually wore itself out and it got cold again. Now Mark and himself were out searching for stuff to bring back to the camp and hopefully revive their source of warmth.

 

Mark was a little grouchy today, but Jack wasn’t much better. When the fire went out it was uncomfortably cold, but they were out of sticks and it was too dark to get more. They had leaned against each other for warmth, stuck in a half awake half sleep state of consciousness.

 

After they “woke up”, they grumbled a plan to collect more supplies and haven’t spoken since. They weren’t mad or anything, just tired and felt like keeping to themselves for now. Jack was glad that he and Mark were comfortable enough around each other that they didn’t have to force conversation.

 

Jack came across another array of suitcases and decided to dig through them. He found a large dark blue raincoat that he immediately put on over his hoodie to help keep the rain off and flipped the hood up over the other. He stopped worrying about who these clothes belonged to a while ago. Technically they weren’t real, so why bother?

 

The sound of chopping made him quickly look up, but calmed at the sight of Mark a short distance away attacking a helpless sapling. He looked down at the suitcases at his feet, a question forming in his mind, and furrowed his eyebrows.

 

Jack stuck his hands in the pockets of his new coat and trudged over to Mark. He sat on a log that seemed relatively dry and watched him chop up the baby tree. Mark looked over and gave him half a smile, an indicator that things were alright, and went back to his task.

 

“How’s it goin?” Jack asked, voice thick with sleep.

 

“I’d chop down a hundred trees for a cup of coffee right now,” Mark said flatly. Jack couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought.

 

“Yeh, me too.”

 

Another few moments of silence. Mark finished and, deciding he was done, dropped the axe on the ground with a sigh. He lifted his arms and stretched out his back before yawning. He then motioned for Jack to scoot over, who obliged, and sat down next to him on the log.

 

“This sucks.”

 

Jack nodded. He remembered the question he thought of earlier and cleared his throat to speak. “What are we doin?”

 

Mark looked at him confused. “Chopping wood so we can get a fire?”

 

“No, um…” Jack sighed, realizing his too-vague question and tried to reword it. “Like...ta get out, what are we doin’. Are we just survivin’ or are we supposed to play tha game?”

 

Mark hummed in thought. “That’s a good question.”

 

The sprinkling rain had stopped, and the sky lightened slightly. Jack sat in silence as he thought, brain moving slowly with the lack of sleep and caffeine.

 

“I miss Chica…” Mark said quietly, voice fragile. He stared off into nothing, mind elsewhere.

 

Jack felt for him, and gently rubbed Mark’s back with his hand. “I know buddy… Do ya think the guys have noticed we’re gone yet?”

 

Mark shrugged. “I hope so. I don’t know how time works. A day in a video game equates to like ten minutes in real time.”

 

Huh, that’s true. Jack didn’t think about that.

 

Just then the sun broke through the clouds, making the forest much more vibrant and warming the pair sitting on the log. Jack looked up at the sky and smiled, letting his cheeks soak in the rays. Mark mimicked his actions, letting his eyes close for a moment.

 

“How ‘bout we finish here and then get back ta camp, ya?” Jack suggested, the sun giving him the little boost he needed to keep going.

 

“Okay.”

 

Jack jumped off the log and returned to the collection of suitcases where he found his raincoat while Mark went in search of another helpless sapling or dead log to fall victim to his axe.

 

Jack figured Mark would like a jacket of some sort too and tried rummaging around to find one, but they were all summer clothes or small women’s outfits. Not quite what they needed for a forest environment.

 

He hummed a nameless tune as he searched, pausing in patches of sunlight to warm up. Jack had pocketed a beanie and a few large pairs of socks, but still no extra jacket, and he was running out of luggage. He stood up straight, stretching his sore back from bending over too much and walked further into the forest.

 

Jack climbed up on a rock and spotted three suitcases laid out down a small embankment near a pond. He cheered quietly and climbed down, careful not to slip on the wet moss covering the rocks and using a nearby tree as a handhold. After jogging over and sorting through the mess, he finally found what looked like a decently sized nylon jacket. He stood up and looked around for Mark.

 

“Mark! I think I found somethin’ for ya!” Jack yelled. No response. He huffed and repeated the statement louder.

 

A grunt came from a short distance away, which Jack took as his answer. He was probably hacking away at a log to pay much attention. He followed the sound, holding up the jacket as he walked. He frowned. It was a size medium, but Mark was probably a large so Jack was worried it wouldn’t fit.

 

“Hey, take a sec an’ look at this,” Jack asked as he walked around the tree. He froze.

 

Mark wasn’t there.

 

But a very-much-bigger-than-him cannibal with a bloody human head on a stick for a club was. Jack stared, noting the necklace of human teeth draped around his neck, and tribal symbols painted on his chest in...blood? He had strips of animal skin tied around his waist like a skirt that left absolutely zero to the imagination, and Jack grimaced.

 

“Dude, you need actual pants. Ya can’t have yer junk floppin’ around like that. I bet I could find some for ya,” Jack offered helplessly using a fake bravado.

 

A rustle and the sound of a broken branch on his left caught his attention. Another cannibal, this time a woman with ratted hair and red hand prints across her body. Near her a second lady cannibal crawled out from a bush, baring her teeth in a low growl.

 

Jack looked around and noted three more, all dudes this time. He was surrounded. His stomach dropped but he struggled to keep a strong composure.

 

“So… this was a trap, eh?” Jack spoke loudly, louder than needed but he hoped that his voice would carry. “You guys knew I was lookin’ through suitcases for supplies n’ left a convenient trail for me to follow. Yer smarter than I thought!”

 

The big guy, he suspected was the leader, furrowed his eyebrows like he was confused. Jack was sure he had no idea what he was saying, but he didn’t care if they understood or not. He tried to buy more time.

 

“Don’t you guys get cold? I mean, I’m fuckin’ freezing my arse off out here! GOOD THING YOU HAVE SOME FRIENDS TO KEEP YA COMPANY. WHO CAN HELP YOU WHEN YER PROBABLY GONNA DIE!” Jack decided to raise his voice as loud as possible without outright screaming, because the leader looked pissed and bored.

 

Jack was starting to panic. His heart jumped into his throat the longer he stood in the circle of cannibals. When the leader started to slowly advance towards him and his naked buddies began snarling at Jack, he tried speaking again but his voice shook. He had literally _nothing_ to defend himself, and he was scared shitless.

 

“W-whoa hey, you really don’t want me, I’m disgusting. Too skinny! Just skin n’ bones dude, just– FUCK get away from me!” Jack screeched when one of the ladies tried to grab his leg. They were all closing in on him now. Everything in his body screamed RUN. He quickly dropped the conversation and screamed: “MARK!”

 

A rather large rock smacked the leader in the back, making him stagger and growl. He spun around, and his pack stopped advancing on Jack to see who threw the object.

 

Another rock whizzed passed the leader, missing his shoulder and nearly hitting Jack instead. “HEY!”

 

“Sorry!”

 

“ _MARK!_ ” Jack yelled, angry that he gave away his position.

 

“Fuck…”

 

The leader grunted and one of the dudes on Jack’s right broke from the group to investigate. He didn’t make it far before Mark ran out from behind a tree _screaming_ and swung at the dude with his axe. He barely made contact with the guy’s shoulder, causing the cannibal to roar in frustration.

 

Jack used the distraction to pick up the rock Mark threw earlier and threw it as hard as he could into the face of the lady next to him. She screamed as the rock connected with her head point-blank, making her stagger and fall back. Jack looked up in time to see Mark throw a pretty impressive punch in the face of the dude he was fighting, making him stagger and clutch at his face.

 

But then the leader started roaring, screaming, _something_ loud and the others copied his actions. It’s like they were alerting or calling for reinforcements. Frankly, Jack didn’t want to stick around to find out.

 

“Mark! Come _on!_ ” Jack shouted urgently, getting Mark’s attention. Jack took off in the opposite direction of the leader, hoping to God that Mark was following. The other lady tried to grab him but luckily Jack dodged her hand, feeling her fingertips brush the fabric of his jacket. He threw the other jacket he was still somehow holding at the other cannibal, mostly to surprise him and buy him a few more seconds. He started to run again, but stopped when he noticed Mark wasn’t following.

 

“Get...DOWN!” Jack heard Mark shout from behind him. He glanced long enough to see Mark punch the guy he threw the jacket at, then frantically swung his axe in the direction of the lady who tried to grab Jack. He missed, but it was enough to intimidate her and step back, so she just screamed.

 

“Mark! Fer _fucks sake!_ ”

 

Mark, breathing heavy, finally stepped away from the group, axe in hand, and turned toward Jack. “I’m coming!”

 

Jack waited only a second to make sure Mark was running after him before sprinting as fast as he could through the forest without tripping. Jack could hear Mark just behind him as they ducked into the cover of the trees, away from the pond. He noted faintly that they were running _away_ from their camp, but the urge to _get the fuck out_ overrode any desire to return to the beach.

 

Jack heard the leader roar again, and the horrible sound of something crashing through bushes and branches. The leader cannibal was following them, and gaining _fast._ Jack breathed heavily both from exertion and from panic. But he stopped breathing altogether when he heard Mark shout from behind him.

 

Jack skidded to a halt and turned around. The idiot had tripped and landed hard on the forest floor, losing grip of the axe. Fucking _typical_ horror movie moment right there. The cannibal was closing in, the rest of his tribe following and what looked like even more had joined. They really needed to run.

 

Jack ran back to Mark to help him up, ignoring Mark’s selfless demands of “Just go” and “Leave me, just run!”

 

No way in fucking hell was Jack about to do that.

 

He managed to get Mark on his feet and pushed him forward. He quickly glanced behind him to see the leader was about to pounce. Suddenly, a feeling of murderous, nearly maniacal rage filled him. In a split second decision, Jack firmly grabbed the handle of the axe with both hands. With all the strength and momentum he could muster, he roared, turning his body while swinging the axe, aiming for the leader. The blade buried itself deep into the juncture of his neck and shoulder, Jack feeling it through the handle. Blood immediately spurted everywhere from the wound, and an agonized scream emerged from the victim. Jack let go of the axe as the cannibal collapsed to the ground, leaving it buried in his neck, his screams of pain never ceasing.

 

Jack felt like he was in a daze, staring down at what he’d done. Shocked, he backed away slowly from the scene in front of him, eyes wide. Why did he do that? _How_ did he do that?

  
He quickly felt a hand grab his own, and an urgent but soft voice spoke. “Jack…Jack we need to run!” Mark gently but firmly tugged at him, snapping Jack out of his daze. He turned and began sprinting through the trees again, the echoes of pained screams following him.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, Jack...


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank fuck for phones and mobile functional sites and Google Docs. I'm gonna be nowhere near a computer all day xD I wuv u iPhone!

When they reached a river that flowed from the mountains, they decided to stop and rest.

 

Two minutes later, Jack was emptying his stomach contents into an unfortunate bush a short distance away. He always had a weak stomach.

 

Mark had squat next to the water, flipping over small stones with a stick as he gave Jack time to recover. Not gonna lie, he was lowkey impressed with the Irishman. If this was an actual game, that would have been something to celebrate. Maybe even show a clip of it on Twitter. But killing in a video game doesn’t nearly have the horrific impact as seeing and feeling and smelling it right in front of you without the protective barrier of a screen. So, Mark could understand why Jack was fertilizing a plant with his insides.

 

It was still midday and the sun had broken from the clouds completely, drying out the landscape from yesterday’s storm. Big white puffs decorated the blue sky, and birds flew and chirped through the tree canopy, ignorant to the savage tribal practices happening below them.

 

Mark watched the river, trying to figure out a plan of action. It obviously was flowing to the ocean, but the beach was populated by cannibals, and Mark really didn’t feel like paying them a visit again. He looked upriver, in the direction of the mountains. He didn’t really remember The Forest having mountains like that, but who knows anymore. He wanted to stick to a water source, so maybe they should follow this for a while and see what happens. It was that or wander aimlessly.

 

Mark realized it had been silent for a while, possibly indicating that Jack had stopped vomiting? His suspicions were correct when said person shuffled over near him, unceremoniously dropping to his knees at the river’s edge. Reaching with two hands into the water, he cupped some into his mouth to rinse it out. A thought of “wait, that’s probably gross” entered Mark’s mind, but he kept his mouth shut. Jack wasn’t worried about filtered water at the moment.

 

After rinsing and spitting and taking a few extra gulps for good measure, Jack sat back and cleared his throat.

 

“You okay?”

 

“M’fine.” Jack’s voice was very hoarse, and his face was a little pale.

 

“You probably saved both our lives yknow.”

 

“It’s fine,” Jack said shortly.

 

“Well _I_ thought it was impressive as fuck. My hero!” Mark said dreamily, grinning. He grinned wider when he noticed Jack’s mouth twitch slightly in a smile. Win.

 

Changing the subject, Mark gestured at the river with his stick, conducting his words like he had a band in front of him. “So, I thought of a game plan. We don’t wanna go down river cause that’s gonna lead to the ocean, and the ocean is where our buddies are. Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel like imposing again.” When he looked back at Jack, he was shaking his head vigorously. Mark smirked and continued. “I thought so. Unfortunately that means we don’t have our stuff anymore and we’re back to square one, but I wasn’t that attached to that deck of cards anyway. With that said, we’ll go the opposite way: upriver.” He pointed with his stick. “Unless you got a better plan?”

 

“Nope.”

 

“Great! Shall we get moving?” Mark said with a flourish, jumping up and bowing with his hand leading the way. Jack rolled his eyes and got to his feet.

  
  
  
  


Their journey was rather uneventful. The sun passed by overhead as they hiked, the landscape gradually getting more rocky, steep, and dry. They crossed the river at one point, only getting one foot wet when it was shallow so as to put one more obstacle between them and the horde behind. Why did surviving take so much physical effort? Mark was sore as balls, his feet felt all torn up (one foot rather damp), he was tired, and all he wanted was a decent meal and his bed. Although, he noticed that they weren’t as hungry as you’d expect. In fact, they should be _starving._ Huh.

 

He looked down at himself and poked his belly, curious. Did his body stop working? Does this mean they’re dead? Did he even _have_ any insides anymore? He laughed. Nothing made sense.

 

What was annoying was that they didn’t really have a real plan. There wasn’t an objective to complete or a special jewel to retrieve or a boss to kill. Where’s your quest menu to see what the fuck you’re supposed to be doing? Terrible game mechanics, man.

 

Mark shared all these thoughts with Jack as they hiked, making him laugh. Jack was also suspicious, but he agreed that they had nothing to do except keep moving. Maybe their objective will show itself someday. Staying in one spot only proved to be hazardous to their health, if potentially dying is considered unhealthy.

 

“Thanks, by the way. Fer savin’ me.”

 

Mark smirked. “ _I_ should be thanking _you_. That was ballsy as shit, choppin down on an elite cannibal leader.”

 

Jack shrugged, head bowed. “I just… I _know_ they were tryin’ ta kill us an’ all, but I still...killed somethin’. Or severely hurt somethin’. And I could _feel it…_ “ He shivered. “Whatever, it’s fine. At least we know this all isn’t real right?”

 

“Right. It’s not real, we’re still technically in a video game. You’re fine.” Mark reassured him, offering a comforting smile.

 

Jack straightened up, changing the subject. “Did my unnecessary yelling help ya?”

 

Mark laughed. “I actually heard you the first time, when you said you had something to show–”

 

“Ah, _shit._ ”

 

“What?”

 

Jack facepalmed and groaned. “Tha jacket. I found another jacket an’ I wanted ta see if it would fit ya, but then that bullshit happened and I threw it at a cannibal ta distract ‘em, I shoulda kept it, I’m sorry…”

 

Mark chuckled. “It’s okay man, it probably helped us get away. I’m a big sturdy man! I can handle it!” He puffed out his chest to make his point, but Jack wasn’t buying it and rolled his eyes.

 

“It is what it is. So, ya heard me callin’ for ya?”

 

Mark deflated his torso and nodded, smiling. “I was actually coming to find you to tell you to _stop fucking yelling_.” Mark laughed at himself, remembering how annoyed he was that Jack was just shouting instead of coming to find him. He had went looking for him, but when he heard him continue yelling like he was talking to someone, that set off several red flags in his brain. “You could say your never ending loudness actually saved you.”

 

“Yeh, cause yer such an _excellent_ rock thrower. That nearly whacked me in tha head.”

 

“Hey, I played trumpet, not sports.”

 

“ _Clearly_. What’s tha number one thing ya DON’T do when yer runnin’ from bad guys? Ya don’t fuckin’ _fall._ ” Jack’s tone was teasing, not actually blaming Mark for his trip up, pun intended. “That’s classic horror movie 101.”

 

Mark scoffed, his voice going high pitched. “It’s not _my_ fault! I couldn’t see what I was stepping on!”

 

Jack was smiling, shaking his head. “Next time, I’m gonna keep runnin’.”

 

“That hurts, Jack. That cuts reeeaal deep,” Mark said as he placed a hand over his heart and put on his best puppy dog eyes.

 

Jack glanced at him and laughed, shoving his shoulder. “Shut up.”

 

They found more and more dry dead spots instead of lush groundcover the further they hiked. The river did nothing to quench the thirst of the dry landscape. The trees still surrounded them, but much less dense than before. In a video game world, this would be considered entering a new biome.

 

The river was getting harder and harder to follow, and Mark was wondering if they should turn back or find somewhere to camp. The terrain around the river was increasingly more rocky and hazardous, and it would honestly make safer sense to go into the forest again. Maybe things were different on this side of the river.

 

The other issue was that it was getting late. The more the sun disappeared from the sky, the harder it was for them to see as they traversed over several rocks.

 

“Mark…should we keep goin’…?” Jack’s breath was labored, worn out from the constant climbing.

 

“Probably not,” Mark admitted. He huffed and sat down on a rock he was currently standing on, catching his breath. “I don’t think my plan worked.”

 

Jack chuckled, sitting on his own boulder. “It’s like we hit the world barrier. An invisible wall.”

 

Mark looked behind him up the mountain. “Yeah, feels like it...” The moment they started to climb, the more resistance Mark felt. He figured it was just cause they were climbing up a fucking _mountain_ but the idea of the invisible barrier made more sense. He turned his attention to the darkening sky, furrowing his eyebrows.

 

“What about that way?”

 

Mark looked down to see Jack pointing towards a vague path leading into the forest, dead brush nearly hiding it entirely. They walked right by it, their focus set on following the river and didn’t notice the dirt trail veering into the trees. It looked unused, but once upon a time something or someone had trampled over it. Probably to get to the river.

 

“What about the cannibals?” Mark asked, not exactly wanting a rematch.

 

“I don’t think it belongs ta them. We’ve been walkin’ all fuckin’ day ‘n they usually mark their claims with a head on a stick, right?” Jack said matter-of-factly, like human head markings are a normal everyday way of marking your territory.

 

Mark shrugged. He didn’t have any better ideas. “If we run into them, it’s your fault.”

 

“Obviously I’ve proven to be a worthy adversary,” Jack smirked. “They’ll pee their pants when they see me comin’.”

 

“They don’t wear pants.”

 

“Yeah well...fuck you!”

 

Mark giggled.

 

After taking a little extra time to rest their feet, Jack lead the way down the path into the forest. It was still light enough to see where they were going, but that was soon going to change if they didn’t hurry and find something.

 

The further they walked, the more sparse the trees became. And the more...dead? The only thing keeping Mark from wanting to turn around is the knowledge that you know you’re going the right way when things start changing. Or the amount of enemies you face. Or challenges...or whatever the inspirational quote is, he couldn’t remember. The point is, judging by the landscape, they must have been doing something right. It was the only indication all day that they were making any progress. Although, it was creepy as fuck.

 

“This is creepy as fuck.”

 

“I know!” Jack said energetically, like he was just thinking the same thing. “It’s like we’re back in Slender or some shit!”

 

“ _Please_ no,” Mark chuckled bitterly.

 

Their path unfortunately came to an end when it lead them to a small cliff, leaving the pair rather puzzled. The path just stopped, it didn’t go around or turn, it just stopped.

 

Jack carefully peered over the edge but quickly backed away. “Oooh _fuck that...”_ He threw up his hands in exasperation. “What tha fuck do we do now?”

 

Mark squinted down the cliff. It was getting dark fast so any details were lost, but he could still see well enough. It really wasn’t that tall, and there were several large rocks jutting out that could act as footholds. They could climb it if they were careful. But should they?

 

Seeing a small black rectangular object on the ground at the foot of the cliff made up his mind for him.

 

“We’re going down.”

 

“ _What?!”_

 

“There’s something down there.”

 

“But–”

 

As ever the impulsive man that he is, Mark crouched and lowered himself to the first steady foothold.

 

“ _Mark!”_

 

“You can stay up there if you want.” Mark smiled kindly up at Jack. “I just want to check this out. I’m an expert rock climber remember?”

 

“Yeh, INDOORS, with a harness ‘n a spotter ‘n conveniently placed shit ta put yer feet on!” Jack scolded frantically, but then his face softened. “Just be careful. Don’t die.”

 

Mark beamed. “Aw, thanks man–”

 

“I still need someone ta outrun if we get chased by tha cannibals.” Jack grinned devilishly.

 

Mark’s jaw dropped, shocked. “Well fuck you, I should just die anyway!”

 

“That’s too easy!” Jack countered, laughing.

 

His laughter quickly quieted as Mark continued to carefully lower himself down the cliff. He was trying very hard not to think about falling and concentrate more on where his feet and hands were. He tested every foothold before slowly putting his full body weight on it. However, halfway down the obstacle even with his carefully placed toes, one stone gave way right underneath his right foot. He yelped as he caught himself with his hands, Jack swearing nervously above him. Thank fucking _God_ he spent all last year rock climbing with Tyler and getting swol because he didn’t think he would have caught himself otherwise using _only_ his upper body. He clutched to two rocks and frantically felt for a hold with his left foot. Once he did, he balanced himself long enough to give his fingers a rest, trying very hard not to panic.

 

“Are you okay!?”

 

“Yeah,” Mark said weakly. “How close am I? I don’t want to look down.”

 

“Yer about halfway down I think…”

 

Mark sighed into the dirt, not caring that he’s absolutely ruining the pullover he was wearing by pressing his body into the dusty wall. The longer he waited, the harder it was going to be to keep his balance because of muscle fatigue. When he found a much more stable foothold with his right, he kept going.

 

A few minutes later he chanced a look down below him, surprised to see the ground was much closer than he expected. He jumped away from the wall and landed heavily on solid earth. Jack huffed a breath above him. Mark brushed off his front, looking up at a frazzled looking Jack.

 

“What, didn’t think I could do it?!”

 

“No!”

 

“You’re an ass!”

 

“And yer _insane_.”

 

Mark giggled, proud of himself. The cliff was maybe 20 feet high. The rock walls he climbed were over 30 feet high back in LA, but he had never tried outdoor rock climbing. Still, he was alive.

 

Oh shit, the thing!

 

It was much darker now, but Mark still managed to spot the weird object on the ground. As he got closer, he realized his suspicions were correct, but he was still confused as hell. “What the fuck…”

 

Carefully, Mark picked up the black camcorder, cradling it gingerly in his hands.

 

“Is that a _camera?!”_ Jack shouted in disbelief. “What tha hell is that doin’ out here?”

 

Mark didn’t answer, turning so Jack could see he was observing it. The outside was banged up, scratched, and dusty like it took a tumble and was left here for a while. He flipped the screen open, happy to see it wasn’t damaged. Fitting his right hand into the strap on the side, his thumb naturally rested on the dial that turns the device on. Mark glanced up at Jack, who looked like he was ready to dive over the edge with how anxious he looked.

 

Mark smirked. “Chill _out_ , man.”

 

“Just fucking turn it on!”

 

Chuckling, he flipped the switch. It beeped, and suddenly the screen flickered to life.

 

“Holy _shit.”_ Mark was surprised it had power at all, but what was _more_ surprising was that this camera had fucking _night vision_. He saw the dimly lit ground in front of him clear as day in the screen. Mark moved it around, observing the stark landscape around him through the camera. There were a lot more dead trees and bushes here, reduced to twigs and sticks. But seeing the trail lead away from him gave him excitement. They had a new lead.

 

“Holy shit does that thing have fuckin’ night vision?” Jack whispered in wonder, loud enough for Mark to hear.

  
Mark looked up and nodded, smiling widely. “Ladies and gentlemen, I do believe we found our next objective.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boy oh boy oh boy, where will these kids end up next?!


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not dead! I was across country at a national conference in Orlando and just got back to Idaho today :P To make up for my lateness, this chapter is a bit long!

“Okay, climb down, we gotta g–”

 

Jack’s heart seized. “No.”

 

“I’ll tell you where to step, it’s fine!”

 

“I’ll go around.” There’s gotta be a better way.

 

“Jack we don’t have time to go around. I don’t even think you can. Just climb dow–”

 

 _“I can’t."_ No bloody fucking way.

 

Mark stared up at Jack, a puzzled expression on his face. “What do you mean you _can’t_?”

 

Jack didn’t respond right away. Physically he could climb down yeah, but mentally he was ready to fucking shit himself. He slowly crouched to his knees, moving ever so slightly to the edge, grimacing as he got closer. He moved to put a foot over, but as he peered over the ledge, terror filled him to the brim and immediately pushed himself away while feeling a combination of anger and embarrassment. He shook his head and groaned loud enough for Mark to hear him. “ _Fuck_ , Mark it’s too high!”

 

Jack was absolutely terrified of heights. Playing VR games to poke fun at his fear was one thing, it was entertaining for the camera and even though it freaked him out he knew he could take off the headset at any time. He doesn’t get that luxury right now. Actually _doing_ that stuff physically was on a whole other level of fuck no. He had a horrible enough time just watching Mark climb down the cliff face, but that was when he thought Mark was going to climb back up, not _invite Jack down_.

 

“Okay, uh…” Mark spoke, trying to think of something. “Wanna try over here? It’s a little bit lower…”

 

Mark had moved to a different spot so Jack carefully followed, giving himself plenty of room from the edge. It was still steep, only about a foot or two shorter than before. This path also had several more dead foliage to navigate. “This really isn’t much better…”

 

“Jack, you have to trust me. I won’t let you fall.”

 

“Yer all tha way down there!”

 

“I can tell you where to put your feet, I have a much better vantage point from down here.” Mark shifted the tone of his voice to be calm, clear, and confident. Jack could tell he was doing so to try to help Jack relax. “You’ll be fine, I promise. I won’t let you fall.”

 

He didn’t really have a choice. Jack took a deep breath, his chest tightening as he moved closer to the edge but he furrowed his eyebrows in determination. Deep breaths. “Okay _fine,_ but I’m not gonna like it!”

 

Mark nodded, smiling kindly. “Good, okay, I’ll guide you down. See that bush in front of you? Right on the other side is a spot you can stand on that goes down. You can even hold on to the branches of that bush to help.”

 

Jack grabbed several of the branches in a vice grip as he eased his way over. He mumbled to himself as a distraction. “Okay, okay okay, it’s fine, yer fine… yer fuckin’ _fine_ , just stop being a fuckin’ _baby_ , you stupid…” It took sheer willpower to not launch himself away from the edge and run off, but he couldn’t abandon Mark.

 

After stepping over the bush he was holding on to, he immediately crouched so he was closer to what little flat ground he had. Jack made sure to keep his eyes on his hands and feet and where he placed them. It was getting increasingly harder to see with how dark it was getting.

 

“Good, you’re doing great. Now shuffle to the right. There’s a another ledge you’ll have to step down to.”

 

Jack did as he was told, focusing on Mark’s voice and breathing like he was having a baby. He still mumbled to himself, talking his way through his actions. “One step at a time, ya got this, just move slowly, jesus _fucking christ…_ ” Jack’s foot slid just an inch and the pure fright of it coursed through his entire body and set off a long string of condemning curse words.

 

“It’s okay, you’re okay, you’re almost there, you can step down with your right foot…you’re going to have to let go of the bush though…”

 

Jack reluctantly let go of his crutch, internalizing a pathetic whine so as not to give away just how horrible he was feeling. He immediately gripped onto a rock to help guide him down. “Fuckin’ shit, stupid, it’s fine, yer fine, yer a fuckin’ pussy but _yer fine goddamnit_.”

 

He heard Mark chuckle, and Jack briefly glared down at him. Unfortunately Mark caught him fighting his smile. It really was ridiculous, and it felt better to laugh through his fear but he didn’t want to give Mark the satisfaction.

 

“Shut up!” He yelled, bringing his attention back to his feet. “Don’t fuckin’ judge me ya fuckin’ asshole.”

 

Mark chuckled again. “No judgement. You’re doing great, now put your left foot down.”

 

It was a very long 20 minutes for Jack to will himself down the cliffside. His hands shook with a combo of exertion and fear, Mark guiding him as carefully as he could while Jack clung to everything and anything he could get his hands on. His hands were somewhat scratched up from the several bushes he grabbed as leverage, and his fingertips stung from digging them into the rocks.

 

Finally, Jack turned and found himself at the bottom of the cliff. He slowly let go of the rock he was holding and balanced his feet to shuffle and slide down the dirt slope. He glanced back up the thing he just climbed and brushed his hands off, already feeling his heart rate slow and his breathing become normal. “Not too bad.”

 

“You looked like you were on the verge of pissing yourself the entire time.”

 

“Shuttup! Heights are scary as fuck, man. Let me dunk you in tha middle of tha _ocean_ n’ we’ll see how ya hold up.” Jack said with a sneer, crossing his arms.

 

Mark shivered. “Point taken.” He then chuckled. “You did great though. You didn’t die or hurt yourself. I’d call that a win!”

 

Jack laughed with him, feeling much better now.

 

With that obstacle out of the way, Mark used the camcorder’s night vision to guide them back to the trail. Jack walked closely next to him so he could glance down at the screen while they walked to make sure he wasn’t about to faceplant over an inconveniently placed rock.

 

They followed the trail, the pair no longer talking so they could listen to their surroundings. Their only solace was the camera. If not for that, they probably would have turned back to hang out at the river until daybreak. But Jack knew that things that were positioned conveniently in video games had a purpose, there was a reason for their existence. Just like if you suddenly pick up a bunch of ammo and health packs, that’s a good indicator that you’re probably about to fight a boss.

 

This camera was no different, and if it meant a step closer to getting the hell out of here _then bring it on, Cal._

 

 

* * *

  


Their first indicator that they found some sort of civilization was the faint silhouette of a distant windmill. But it was anything but hopeful.

 

“Fffffuuuuuck me…” Mark whined when he saw the structure in the camera screen.

 

“Uh, can we later? I left my condoms at home,” Jack replied with a smirk.

 

Mark wiggled his eyebrows at him. “I got you covered, baby.” He showed the camera to Jack so he could see the issue.

 

“A windmill?”

 

“And what do windmills in the middle of the creepy dark forest meeaaaan?” Mark spoke like he was trying to teach a child what color yellow and blue make when you mix them together.

 

“...An insane cult of people that like ta kill each other in tha name of their God?”

 

“Ayyyy, you got it! Ding ding ding!”

 

“So...does that mean we aren’t playin’ The Forest anymore?” Jack asked hesitantly.

 

Mark shrugged. “We’re about to find out.”

 

The further they hiked through the dark terrain, the more apparent it became that they had definitely stepped into the world of Outlast. However, Mark was still hesitant. The “transition”, for lack of a better term, was always abrupt or obvious. There was no “continue” option, so part of him still suspected (or hoped) that it was still The Forest. But it was starting to become clear that that wasn’t the case anymore.

 

They passed several wooden crosses scattered along the path, some standing upright and others knocked completely over, some even upside down. Mark thought he could hear whispers in the trees. Jack jumped every time a twig snapped, unsure if it was caused by them or something else.

 

The moon showed itself from behind the clouds, a bright glowing orb in the sky watching their every move. But its light hardly reached their surroundings, leaving them in nearly complete darkness.

 

They slowed to a halt when a small wooden house appeared in the darkness, a small broken fence standing in between it and them. The porch looked like it could collapse at any moment, its wood planks fractured and fragile. The tattered curtains were drawn, obscuring whatever the inside looked like. But it was the blotchy upside down cross perfectly nailed to the front door that really caught their attention. Mark didn’t remember that being a thing before...but he still didn’t want to know what the dark stains were, so he pretended it was an aesthetic choice. For his own sake.

 

Jack wasn’t thinking aesthetically though. He whined pathetically upon seeing the house and the creepy symbol adorning the front. “I don’t wannaaaa….”

 

“You don’t wanna spend the night here?” Mark asked innocently, carefully stepping over the broken  fence and walking up to the porch.

 

“It doesn’t align with my morals, no,” Jack continued, his nervousness coming out very clear in his voice. He climbed over the fence as well, but stayed on the path to avoid going near the house. The rickety windmill they spotted earlier stood motionless near the house held up by random boards nailed here and there along the legs of the structure.

 

Mark carefully ascended the porch stairs and reached for the door knob, resolutely ignoring the cross. Locked, but somehow he already knew that.

 

“What do ya think our goal is? Do we _really_ have ta fuckin’ go through _Outlast?!_ ” Jack asked from his spot on the trail, nervously shifting on his feet.

 

Mark thought about it as he looked around the porch for anything useful. Just a metal wash bucket filled with dirt and a broken wagon wheel. “I don’t know… neither of us have a reason to go into the village. There’s no girl for us to rescue.”

 

“Do we need ta find batteries?” Jack asked as Mark joined him back on the trail. Wordlessly, the two continued on the path passed the empty house.

 

“Eh, probably wouldn’t hurt, honestly.”

 

They progressed forward. Mark’s senses were on high alert, aware of every footstep they took, every branch that shook in the wind, and Jack’s nervous breathing. Or was that himself? When the next two houses came into view, they slowed. Mark felt a weird sense of deja vu. He’s technically seen this before, but not _like_ this. Not in this manner. It was simultaneously foreign and familiar. And even then, things still seemed different than what he remembered.

 

All the windows were haphazardly boarded up, the glass either shattered or gone completely behind the planks. They stepped around an overturned wood chair as the front of the house on the right came into view. An old tattered screen door sat ajar. It, too, had its own upside down cross latched to what was left of the screen material.

 

“Were those there before?” Jack asked, pointing to said cross.

 

“Not that I remember…” Mark debated on going inside. He knew there had to be batteries somewhere. He turned to Jack, who was anxiously looking around. “Wanna go inside and see our new crib?”

 

“Again, _no_ , fuckin’ hell,” Jack replied, looking at Mark like he was crazy.

 

Mark shrugged and carefully pulled open the door. The small living room was bare except for a few bits of broken furniture. Mark could hear the sound of something buzzing coming from somewhere. He walked around the room, peering into shelves and behind chairs with no luck. Mark wondered if the batteries would glow like they did in game. It would certainly make it much easier.

 

The house extended into another room that looked like a kitchen. “Oh my _God_ …!” He didn’t find batteries but he did find the source of the buzzing. In fact, it took about .4 seconds for him to see the fly infested decaying body sprawled over the kitchen table, smell it, and realize no amount of batteries was worth smelling _that_ for longer than he needed to. Mark immediately covered his nose and came bursting out of the house, eyes wide with shock with what he just saw.

 

Jack jumped, startled by the unexpected outburst from Mark so soon after entering the shack. Mark stumbled away from the house in a hurry, coughing and trying to take in fresh gulps of air.

 

“Fuck the batteries,” Mark choked out. “You do _not_ want to fucking see what I just saw in there!”

 

“Fuckin’ _told you!_ ” Jack said urgently. “Are you okay?”

 

“Yeah, just…” Mark held back a gag. The smell was so strong it lingered in his nostrils, and the bloody decaying face of the abandoned body was burned into his brain. “Just don’t go in there.”

 

Jack nodded silently, watching Mark with a worried expression. He didn’t ask further, and Mark was grateful.

 

“Y’know, in a different situation, this would be really fuckin’ awesome,” Jack stated after a moment of silence. “Put a controller in my hand, headphones on my head, we’re golden. We’re great. But ya _can’t_ put me physically in the middle of it, man.” Jack’s face was grim, still wringing his hands together in an attempt to distract himself.

 

Mark agreed wholeheartedly. But instead of adding to the grim mood, he smirked and said, “We’re getting the ultimate experience. Full 5D immersion!”

 

Jack’s grin didn’t reach his eyes, like it was forced. He shrugged and continued to walk to what looked like a dark dilapidated stable. Mark frowned and brushed it off. He pulled the camera out and immediately switched on the night vision so he could see his environment better. He pointed it at the structure Jack walked up to. It was filled with old hay, dirty bags of grain with crosses inked on the canvas, and a pile of chopped firewood. The items looked like they hadn’t been touched in months.

 

Mark turned with the camera to survey the rest of the dark area. More small shacks, ones he had no intention of exploring, although his battery was getting low. He grimaced when the silhouette of a child’s tricycle came into view, sitting exactly center of the path.

 

“Ugh…” Jack said next to him, peering over Mark’s arm to look into the camera. “I hate shit like that…”

 

They walked (widely avoiding the lone tricycle), revealing more abandoned shacks with boarded up windows built too close together. Full grown trees jutted out of the ground in random spots, like these people had no means to actually clear an area in the forest for their settlement, so they just built around it. Somehow, it made it creepier. The battery icon on the camera started flashing making Mark nervous. He had no extras, and he really didn’t want to perform another break-in in case he was met with a worse sight.

 

“The battery is almost dead… these things are shit,” Mark complained, glaring at the camera like it was at fault.

 

“Another part o’ tha 5D experience?” Jack said smugly.

 

Mark squinted accusing eyes at him.

 

Hesitantly, _very_ hesitantly, Mark walked up to one of the shacks that only had part of the window boarded up. It was pitch black inside, but using the camera he was able to bring out the details of the single room. He carefully looked around inside and let out a sigh of relief when he saw no bodies. There was just a bed, a small table, a broken bookshelf, and a large framed photograph of a bulky bald priest. Mark recognized the man from the Outlast 2 demo that he had played a while ago. Previously he was excited for the game to come out, but now...well, let’s just say it got a little too meta. But, this couldn’t be the demo… things were too different, events that were supposed to happen weren’t happening, and the environment felt old and abandoned.

 

After confirming the house was void of people, and discovering that of-fucking-course the front door was locked, Mark walked around it until he found a window that wasn’t boarded. Jack closely followed, shamelessly admitting he didn’t want to be left alone outside. Mark didn’t blame him, and let him hold the camera while he fiddled with the fixture..

 

He pushed and shoved the old window open, very nearly outright breaking it in frustration, but finally grinded it up just enough to climb through. Mark tumbled gracelessly inside, making more noise than intended but he managed. It was very dark inside, but could make out just enough to get around, and he didn’t want to waste the last of their single battery in case his venture proved fruitless.

 

The house _reeked_ , and Mark quickly found out why. The bed was empty, but the mattress was left ruined by a dark and heavy stain. Easily blood, a _lot_ of blood, like someone was gutted in their sleep...well, he hoped they were asleep... “Fucking fuck...ew…” Mark scrunched up his nose in disgust and focused his attention away, searching through the broken boards of the book case.

 

Mark quietly lifted away the boards until he finally found a single dusty battery tucked in the corner. He made a celebratory fist bump for the occasion. But as he grabbed the small object, he heard rustling outside that made his hair stand on end. He then heard a muttered chorus of “fuck fuck fuck!” as Jack launched himself quickly inside the hut towards Mark.

 

“Shit, _Jack!_ ” Mark grabbed his arms and helped him inside but not before he heard a faint ripping sound from somewhere. The rustling outside getting louder, and voices could be heard.

 

“ _It came from over here!_ ” Someone with a rough deep voice shouted outside.

 

Jack was still muttering his chorus of swears when Mark frantically reached up and nudged the window down as silently as he could, stopping when he knew the opening was too small for any person to crawl through. Goddamnit, who was this?! This doesn’t make sense!

 

“Mark, come here!” Jack whispered from behind him. He saw he crawled under the bloody bed to hide, much like you would in the game, but….ew.

 

Jack noticed Mark’s hesitation and rolled his eyes. “Get yer prissy arse over here fer fucks sake!”

 

More incoherent talking came from outside, giving Mark all the motivation he needed to slide his body under the defiled furniture next to Jack. Their feet tucked against the wall while their heads faced the room, lying on their stomachs with their arms tucked underneath their torsos. Jack coughed and Mark shot him a look, but noticed he was holding his nose and trying very hard not to gag. It did smell worse down here. Mark didn’t want to think just how much blood soaked through the entire mattress onto the floor below.

 

Footsteps outside shut them up real quick. Mark held his breath as he could see the glow of flashlights skittering the landscape through the windows, gruff voices chattering every now and then.

 

_“Where the fuck did they go?!”_

 

_“They’re ‘round here somewhere. Gotta be hidin’, the pussies.”_

 

 _How did they know they were even here?!_ Mark thought frantically, his heart hammering in his ribcage. He squished himself against Jack, hoping he was out of sight of the windows just in case the mysterious men peeked in. He felt Jack attempt to flatten up against the wall even more, so Mark followed, probably uncomfortably crowding him at this point. He made a mental note to apologize later.

 

The light shone on the boarded front window, Mark could tell from the light shining through the glass onto the wall and floor. His body froze when he heard the footsteps right outside the fucking front door. Jack emitted an involuntary whine. Mark glanced over looked to see Jack’s hands in tight fists with his mouth pressed firmly against his right. Jack’s eyes were wide with fear, darting from Mark’s eyes to the door and back again.

 

Mark whispered a gentle “shh” and rubbed his pinky and ring finger on Jack’s wrist in comfort, because that’s all he could maneuver in their current position.

 

He stopped and whipped his head around when the light came directly into the room through the window, Mark’s body freezing up completely. Jesus fucking Christ they were literally right outside the window.The light didn’t quite come underneath the bed, thank god, but he knew they were looking at it. Mark could hear their voices perfectly clear. They might as well have been in the room with them.

 

 _“Ay Rick, wasn’t this Sheila’s old place?”_ A gruff voice spoke from the light source.

 

A short pause, then a damning laugh from further away. _“Yeah, that bitch was somethin’. The Father fucked her raw in her own bed ‘n she took it like the whore she was.”_

 

_“She didn’t birth the antichrist?”_

 

Another light appeared from the window they used to climb into the shack, and Mark briefly thanked himself for closing it as much as he did.

 

_“We thought for sure she held the heathen in her womb, so sure that she allowed the Father to gut her stomach halfway through the pregnancy.”_

 

Mark’s jaw had dropped during that little story tidbit. What the fuck was he hearing… Jack’s mouth was also hanging open in shock with his eyebrows furrowed tightly together, obviously just as disgusted as Mark was.

 

_“Oh I would have loved to see that.”_

 

Mark grimaced. Then the lights and voices moved on down the path, away from the dudes hiding underneath the bloody bed. But Mark dared not move in case the villagers come back to investigate further, neither did Jack.

 

Jack’s eyes reflected the frozen terror he was feeling. He looked at Mark, his face very serious. “I don’t want ta be here anymore.”

 

Mark smiled sadly. “Neither do I…”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew! Thanks for your patience guys. I realized while I was in Orlando for a conference that I wasn't going to be able to post this chapter and I was freaking out a small bit cause I had no idea how to let you guys know. So from now on just in case something weird happens and a chapter is late and you're super curious what's going on, just check my twitter page :P I'll use the hashtag #SuddenRealityFic so you can find it easier too. My handle is @epicashleyftw
> 
> Also, I spent a total of five hours in JUST the Harry Potter park at Universal Studios yesterday :D Fuck yeahhh. But man oh man it was a long trip back to Idaho today, jfccccc
> 
> Things are getting daaarrrrkkk... but I guess that's the way Outlast is, so :P Is there a limit to how dark you guys are willing this fic to go lol


	22. Chapter 22

“Thanks again for cooking, that was awesome.”

 

Tyler smiled, gathering up his and Ethan’s plates to bring to the kitchen. “Sometimes the best burgers are homemade burgers.”

 

Ethan gulped down the last of his water, then glanced towards the stairs. “Do you think we should let them know dinner's getting cold?”

 

Tyler shrugged, rinsing off the plates before putting them in the dishwasher. “Mark knows I was making it, and I don’t want to bug ‘em if they’re still recording.”

 

“Yeah, Mark hates that,” Ethan replied, adding his glass to the rack of dishes.

 

Tyler turned and grabbed his phone off the counter, pausing when he noticed several missed calls and texts from Bob and Wade.

 

_Bob Muyskerm, 30m ago_

_Answer your goddamn phone!_

 

_Wade Barnes, 22m ago_

_Tyyllerrrr_

 

_Wade Barnes, 21m ago_

_Did you die too??_

 

_Bob Muyskerm, 18m ago_

_Where the fuck is Mark???_

 

Very confused, Tyler swiped at Bob’s name and hit Call.

 

“Hey man!”

 

“Hey Bob, what’s up? Sorry I didn’t see you tried calling me, I was making dinner with Ethan.” Tyler glanced up at Ethan who was too busy digging around in the freezer to pay attention. Probably trying to find ice cream.

 

“It’s okay, we just wanted to see if you could go bug Mark and Jack to answer their fucking phones. We were supposed to record hours ago but they haven’t gotten back to us.”

 

Tyler rolled his eyes. “Last I checked they were still recording some new game Mark got. I didn’t know they were supposed to do stuff with you though. They haven’t even come downstairs for dinner.”

 

“What the hell are they doing, fucking?!”

 

Tyler chuckled as he watched Ethan eagerly scoop himself a large helping of cookies and cream. He looked at Tyler and motioned to the tub. Tyler nodded, silently indicating that hell yes he wanted some. Ethan grabbed a second bowl. “I hope they aren’t. I can go see though. If they are then I’m about to make it incredibly awkward.”

 

“Do it.”

 

Tyler laughed and told Ethan he would be right back before ascending the stairs to Mark’s recording room with Bob still on the line. He paused and listened through the door. After hearing nothing, he knocked. “Mark? Jack? Are you guys alive?” Silence.

 

“Are they even there?” Bob asked over the phone.

 

Tyler pushed open the door and peeked inside, phone still held to his ear. The recording room was empty. Two Oculus headsets and two pairs of controllers sat on the floor, and Mark’s computer and DSLR were still on, including all the lighting. Weird.

 

Tyler relayed his findings to Bob, who groaned. “Did they tell you where they were going?”

 

“No, I thought they were still up here.” Tyler walked into the room, hoping that maybe they were being cheeky and hiding to scare him, but no luck. “They even left all the recording stuff on.”

 

Bob laughed. “Well Mark _is_ an idiot.”

 

Something nagged at Tyler’s brain, but he didn’t want to suspect the worst. It hasn’t been that long, they probably ran out to do some errands and Mark just forgot to shut everything off. It’s happened before. Tyler elected to leave his equipment alone for now, maybe there was something running in the background he didn’t want interrupted.

 

After one last look at the room, Tyler left and slowly closed the door behind him. “Sorry man, I don’t know where they went. I can try calling them.”

 

“Nah, it’s okay. Wade and I are done for the night, he and Molly have some dinner plans. I’ll just give him shit for it later. Let him go spend some quality time with his Irish boy.”

 

Tyler smirked, entering the living room downstairs where Ethan was sitting on the couch with his ice cream, Chica snoozing at his feet. A second bowl was on the side table with Netflix queued up on the TV.

 

“Yeah alright.”

 

* * *

 

Running. They were running, and Jack couldn’t breathe but they were still running. They dived between corn stalks in the field, avoiding the shine of flash lights, Mark right on his heels. Shouts and cat calls echoed around them as they tried to escape this horrible village. Fuck the objective, they had no reason to be here.

 

After climbing out of “Sheila’s” shack, they ran down the path opposite of where the two creepy guys went, which unfortunately lead deeper into the village. They crawled behind the houses, avoiding the main area as quietly and quickly as possible. More blood stained doors and abandoned shacks, not what Jack expected or remembered. They almost found themselves running into the underground tunnels where the well of dead babies could be found, but that was not something they were prepared to face, probably ever. So the pair deviated from the path entirely. They climbed through the woods around the tunnel using the camcorder’s last battery life as their eyes. When the terrain became impossible to traverse, they ran into the corn field, hoping the vegetation could hide themselves long enough to escape through to the other side.

 

They weren’t so lucky.

 

If Jack’s heart hammered any harder in his chest he was going to have a heart attack.

 

 _“C’mere, boys! Daddy wants to play!”_ A gruff voices echoed through the field.

 

“Jesus fucking Christ that’s creepy,” Jack muttered to himself when they came to a stop to catch their breath. Brief moments of a recording made long ago flashed in his mind.

_Oh, oh god! Inta the cornfield, hide in tha cornfield! … Oh this is SO creepy and I fuckin’ love it!_

 

Jack cringed. If only past-Jack knew how “too real” that actually was. He was definitely not fuckin’ loving it anymore.

 

Mark bent over with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. “I don’t want to play,” he wheezed.

 

They had unanimously decided they weren’t going to “follow” the rules here. They had no lady to save, they didn’t have a reason to go through the mutilation these people wanted to dish out. They didn’t have to find Timmy to move on from The Forest, so why would that matter here?

 

“Where are we even _goin’_ exactly?” Jack asked in an urgent but hushed tone.

 

“I dont know, _away_ from here!?” Mark said with a bit too much sass. Jack ignored it.

 

More shouts erupted from the village. Jack couldn’t decipher if they were screams of excitement or screams of terror. Neither were good though.

 

Wordlessly they decided to keep moving. They jogged down the corn rows, moving diagonally. They traversed without using the camera in order to save what little battery they had left.

 

Mark burst out from the corn onto a dirt road that cut the field in half. Jack shuffled up next to him, unsure if they should continue through the field or take their chances down the road. One side was a fence with the same stack of wood pallets conveniently placed to help you jump over. The other direction lead deeper into the fields and the darkness beyond.

 

But they didn’t act quick enough. Several flashlights suddenly flared through the corn, followed by shouts and yelling. A few jumped on the dirt path they were on, blocking the way opposite the village. The “game” was forcing them in a certain direction, just like the demo. Jack suddenly _really_ hated Outlast.

 

“Mark, cmon!” Jack yelled, hauling ass towards the fence. Jack ran up the ramp and, grasping the wooden top of the fence, swung the rest of his body over. He landed hard, momentum causing him to stumble to the ground backwards on his ass. He looked up in time to see Mark taking a more careful approach, but in doing so one of the villagers following them grasped his pant leg trying to pull him back. Mark yelped, panic filling his face as he tried to tug his leg free.

 

Anger flared inside Jack’s chest as he scrambled to his feet, running to Mark’s side.

 

“Let him _go!_ ” Jack screamed at the villagers. Jack grabbed Mark’s outstretched hand, who was frantically kicking at the guy holding his pants.

 

“Get off get off GET OFF!” His foot finally connected with the guy’s nose, making him scream and lose his grip. Mark tumbled over the top of the fence with Jack’s help, landing in the dirt on his side. That didn’t stop him from immediately getting back up and running as fast as he could away from the fence, Jack hot on his heels.

 

The air smelled putrid the further into the village they ran. Jack could make out decaying bodies on porches and leaning against the sides of houses, more than he remembered. How do these people live like this…

 

More villagers shining their flashlights exited their houses, trying to get their hands on the boys. Their clothes were shredded, eyes hollow, and some were covered in blood from their latest victim. Normally you have to run and avoid cause you can’t fight back in the game.

 

Not this time.

 

Mark and Jack took every opportunity to swing a fist at a guy they were running past, or kick them out of the way. Jack at one point picked up a broken shovel and swung the metal end at their heads, anger and fear fueling them both. They were _not_ going to fucking die today, not in this place, not if they had the option to fight back.

 

Jack looked over when he heard Mark scream, then saw him land a punch hard in some dudes face, crumpling him to the ground. Impressive. Jack watched the guy fall, dropping the flashlight he was holding...right in Jack’s path.

 

Jack’s face lit up, gunning for the object and scooping it up as he ran. He looked behind him, noticing the villagers had stopped chasing them and were yelling from a distance. Maybe they were out, maybe th–

 

“AH! Fuck, _SHIT!”_

 

Suddenly the ground disappeared. He slid and somersaulted, finally sliding to a stop in the dirt. Jack groaned, his body immediately aching. Vaguely he remembered this part in the game. Your guy slid down the hill and lost his glasses. He picked them up just in time to… see…

 

“ _JACK!”_

His eyes shot open, his vision met with the feet of Marta, the evil witch lady, mumbling and groaning above him. Jack froze, looking up as she lifted her arms, his brain not catching up to move, too focused on the dirt in his face and his torn jeans from the fall, and too focused on the gray ghoulish looking creature towering above him.

 

He felt hands grab his arm and painfully wrenched him from where he was laying on the ground. A metallic thud landed right where his body had been, the axe Marta wielded sticking out of the ground. She roared in frustration, lifting to make another pass at the intruders.

 

“Jack, Jack, cmon, Jack, get UP!”

 

Finally his brain rattled to normal, looking around and grabbing the flashlight he lost in the fall before allowing Mark to heave him to his feet before stumbling to a run. Marta roared, an inhuman sound that made the hairs on Jack’s arms stand on end.

 

They ran. And ran. And ran. Too scared to stop, too adrenaline filled to look back. It was like pure terror pushed them further and further into the woods and towards the mountains.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Plot twist? :o
> 
> *EDIT: I forgot to write what I meant to write in this chapter notes thing. Remember before how Mark said that a day in video game time is like 10 minutes IRL. Which is super true, day/night cycles are always sped up for progression sake. 
> 
> So think of it this way...Mark and Jack have been stuck in the game about four days. So, only 40 minutes IRL time. 
> 
> ...hoo boy.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you guys missed my tweets a couple days ago in regards to this story, I was horrendously sick for like three days :( My whole body hurt so bad, I could hardly watch movies without aching or just falling asleep out of exhaustion. Not a good time man... shout out to my parents for coming to my house and taking care of me when I couldn't even get up to get water <3

It felt like days, but perhaps it was only an hour or two. Either way, there’s only so much running you can do. Mark decided to give up, legs hurting, lungs burning, nearly delirious from exhaustion. He really needed to rest. And from the looks of it, Jack was in the same boat. His face was blotchy from running, his eyes were drooping, and his throat sounded incredibly dry.

 

The air was cool, cooler than Mark thought it would be. The moon shone bright overhead, reaching through the tree branches where it could. Mark was tired. He was very tired.

 

And a little freaked out.

 

His tired brain continued to replay the scenes he saw back there. The blood, the stench, the bodies. It was one thing to play it behind a screen...but to really, _actually_ see this… he was acutely aware of every detail, every blood smear, every hair.

 

It felt like the angrier he got, the more focused he felt. His mind channelled that rage into the strength behind his fists and the speed of his feet. He wanted to wail on every fucker there. But he didn’t, he was careful, letting lose only after Jack pulled him over the fence and every instinct in him told him to run. He didn’t want to stay there, hell no, he wanted to _escape_ ‘cause jesus fuck it was disgusting.

 

Mark flexed his hands, remembering punching and slamming those villagers out of his way. He loved that he could do that.

 

All these emotions whirled in his brain, nearly making him dizzy.

 

...and all these emotions are what have him freaked out. Rubberbanding back and forth like his mind can’t make itself up. One minute he was dodging and twisting his way through the villagers, the next something took hold of his limbs and bashed his way through instead. Not that he necessarily minded, just that...that’s not what he would normally do.

 

These feelings aren’t what he should be feeling. They don’t feel like... _his._ That doesn’t make fucking sense, but it does. Mark decided an hour ago to mentally bash those feels away for now. They had escaped the village, _finally_ escaped, letting the fear and… anger... fuel his feet to keep moving and focus on the landscape in front of him.

 

Mark was a mess. He was tired. Very tired.

 

They slowed to a walk until they found a brook gurgling through some rocks. They took turns eagerly gulping from the palms of their hands, not caring about water safety and all that other bullshit. They were still on edge, listening for any villagers who may have followed, ready to run again if needed. But the longer they waited, the more relaxed they became.

 

Finally, after about half an hour of silence, Mark collapsed on the ground against a tree, too tired to move. He dropped the camera next to him, it suddenly feeling like a hundred pounds in his hand. Jack stumbled next to him, moving slowly, but situated himself so he could lean his head against Mark’s shoulder, and in turn Mark rested his own on Jack’s.

 

When you’re this tired, you don’t give a rat’s ass about using your own friend as a pillow.

 

The last thing Mark remembered was how pretty the stars looked through the treetops before they both quickly succumbed to a dreamless, restless sleep.

 

 

* * *

  

 

Fucking birds.

 

Mark furrowed his brows together, desperately trying to ignore the sound and go back to sleep.

 

But the fucking _birds._

 

He groaned, but the groan of annoyance quickly turned into a groan of ache. His body ached so much. Is this what poor Blake felt like?

 

No. Blake literally had his groin split in half. He had it much worse.

 

Still, Mark didn’t feel good. He slowly opened his eyes, but the sun had barely risen. It must have been like, five in the morning.

 

_Fucking birds._

 

He was surprised to find his mouth was open and quickly shut it, hoping he didn’t drool in his sleep. Mark lifted his head from the hard hairy green pillow, cringing as his neck muscles tensed from the awkward angle. Great. More aches.

 

He shut his eyes again and leaned his head back against the tree. He wanted _so badly_ to fall back asleep, even if just for another hour…

 

“I hate birds.”

 

Mark smirked at the quiet rumble against his shoulder.

 

“Me too.”

 

“I’m gonna shoot ev’ry fuckin’ one o’ them.”

 

“Please do.”

 

Jack’s voice was thick and tired, his accent heavier than usual. Mark’s own was very rough. He sure wasn’t gonna be singing anytime soon.

 

A few more minutes passed until Jack, frustrated, sat up on his own. Mark opened one eye to see him swaying dangerously, clearly still too tired to function. Finally Jack leaned back, tilting his head back as Mark was doing. Mark closed his eye again, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

 

Jack whined. “I hurt. _Everywhere."_

 

“Mhm.” Mark’s hum broke midway, even that being too hard on his tired throat.

 

The landscape slowly illuminated as the sun rose, the birds chirping away like the little assholes they are.

 

“I was kinda hopin’ this was a bad dream,” Jack said, voice cracking every other word. “Guess we still haven’t woken up yet.”

 

Mark entertained the idea of them just waking up at home, cozy in their beds, Chica at his side. “I hope real me is getting better sleep than this.”

 

“I hope real me doesn’t fuckin’ _remember_ this.”

 

“I hope real me never goes camping again.”

 

“I hope real me never buys a fuckin’ bird for a pet or else imma get _triggered.”_

 

Mark chuckled. It sounded pathetic, but it still counted.

 

“I’m gonna send you bird memes when we get home.”

 

“Don’t ya fuckin’ dare.”

 

Mark laughed, his voice stronger this time. The banter seemed to help wake him up a little. He opened his eyes. He could see rays of sunshine piercing the tops of the trees, the gray skies turning to blue. It would be gorgeous, under different circumstances.

 

The pair sat like that, talking and joking like what they just went through wasn’t the most fucked up thing they’ve ever experienced. But it was one way to cope.

 

Mark was stretching, moving his arms and legs to get the joints working again when his right hand brushed against a smooth plastic object. He slowly looked down, his brain clicking the puzzle pieces together. The camera.

 

He picked it up carefully into his lap. Did they record any of it? No, Mark purposefully didn’t do that to save battery. But maybe in the tousle he captured something on accident.

 

He flipped it open and turned it on, noting the red flashing battery indicator. He’d have to be quick. Mark switched it to playback mode, feeling Jack looking over his arm.

 

There were a few recordings saved on the camera. But judging from the thumbnails, none of them were taken in the village.

 

“Holy shit…”

 

Jack looked worried. “What?”

 

“I didn’t take these…” Mark’s eyes were wide, staring at the little screen. He felt anxious, wondering who used this camera before him. Was it Blake? Someone else? But who else would be in the game? “I never thought to check the camera for...for _other_ things. Things that were recorded _before_ we got it…”

 

“Wait _what?!”_

 

Mark selected the oldest one and, hesitantly, hit play.

 

The video crackled to life, the speakers in the camera obviously shot. The playback was scratchy, the screen glitching occasionally. The camera was out of focus and sounded like someone was rubbing their hand over the mic receiver.

 

It was jostled around until it finally clicked into a solid position. A tripod?

 

Mark and Jack glanced at each other in that “okay, this is happening…” manner, but quickly paid attention as someone in a plain gray tshirt stepped in frame and sat down. The man was pretty average looking, young, maybe not much older than Mark. He had a wide set face with no facial hair, light blonde unstyled short hair,  thick eyebrows, and piercing light blue eyes behind thin rimmed glasses.

 

The blonde stared at the camera directly into the lens, before removing his glasses and wiping them off with his shirt. He returned his attention to the camera like it was an afterthought, his face stern, eyes shining that icy blue. “I’ll make this very clear,” he began, replacing his glasses on his face. He had a crisp, honeyed voice. “If you want to survive, you keep walking. If you don’t, well,” He shrugged, obviously not caring either way what happens. “It’s your call.” The man’s voice rang in Mark’s brain, and Mark didn’t know why.

 

The footage suddenly jumpcut randomly, between him smoothing out his shirt or his hair, adjusting his glasses, looking around like he was checking something, looking at his seat, like parts that should have been removed but weren’t.

 

The clip ended. Mark’s brain whirled, taking in all this data, trying to process it.

 

“What the fuck…” was all Mark could murmur before going to the next clip.

 

Same guy, sitting a little closer, head cocked slightly to the side. “Do you feel them? Inside you...” He paused, as if waiting for a response. The video became increasingly fuzzy. The strange man stared, and Mark stared back. Something resonated inside him.

 

“His eyes…” Jack started to whisper. Indeed, the longer the man stared, the more...orange his eyes seemed to get. Like they were glowing? Mark chalked it up to fancy video editing.  

 

The man smiled, like he knew something special. “I do.” Cut to black.

 

Mark immediately opened up the third without hesitation.

 

It continued from before, crystal clear, no fuzz. The man leaned forward, eyes wide and sharp. He leered, the corners of his mouth rising further. “Thank you both for your time on this project.” There was silence as he smiled, looking genuinely giddy and excited for something, but his expression seemed...off. His eyes lit up, almost literally, the orange returned in his irises drowning out the blue. “This is getting to be _so_. Much. _Fun._ ” The moment the last word left his lips, the video glitched violently before going black.

 

What the hell fucking bullshit assetry was that.

 

“Uh, oh-kaaay...” Jack said after a pause, clearly unsure of how to respond to what they just watched.

 

Mark quietly rested the camera on his knee, his brain still calculating. “Well, one thing is for sure,” Mark started. “Those weren’t recorded on this camera. Those were edited, and put _in_ here.”

 

“Yeh?”

 

Mark nodded, lost in thought. “You can’t make edits like that inside the camera… and whoever the fuck that guy was...”

 

The voice.

 

He heard it before. In Five Nights at Freddy’s, when he thought it was Purple Guy on the phone but it wasn’t.

 

“I think that was Cal.” It had to be…Mark didn't really have anything else to add to that. And he suspected Jack thought it too. Potentially seeing the face of the man that got them into this mess was… an odd feeling.

 

Jack was silent, then hesitantly and quietly said, “Yeh...I kinda figured that…”

 

It went without saying that Cal purposefully left those messages for them. Or…coded them into the game, whatever the proper term was.

 

Mark rewatched the videos, studying them for any clues, but none revealed themselves. Just some fancy editing, a blank room, and some guy he has never seen before. With the knowledge of who this man is, these made much more sense. Except the second one… he probably just said that to creep them out. Hopefully.

 

Mark watched the videos until the camera battery completely died.

 

Jack stood up, stretching and analyzing their surroundings. The sun was completely up now. Mark could feel the air was already warmer than when they first woke. Jack looked at him, his expression hesitant. “So...do we follow what he says?”

 

Mark closed the viewfinder gently and looked up at Jack with sad eyes. “Do we even have a choice?”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another reason this was late was I realized I needed to rewrite my "outline" per say so I had a better idea of where this story is going and who the characters are... which needed to happen in order to write a specific part of this chapter. It's all for the greater good, I promise :3 
> 
> THAT BEING SAID... I'm going to take a week to catch up on this properly so I'm not rushing out content (being sick reaaallly fucked up my schedule, especially with work and other personal stuff. I'm still not 100% better yet) and I refuse to let this story succumb to the woes of time crunching. Quality first! 
> 
> This means that the next new chapter will be posted next Saturday (June 10), and skipping this Saturday (June 3). I hope this is okay with you guys <3 as always, any and all feedback is greatly appreciated and welcomed! Remember to check out my twitter @epicashleyftw or search for #SuddenRealityFic on Twitter for any of those just in case special updates outside of posting dates, like if I'm busy puking up my insides instead of posting a chapter :P 
> 
> I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH


	24. Chapter 24

Well… this sucked. This whole situation was just… fucked up, honestly.

 

Jack stretched for the third time, hoping that eventually the aches will ease away. His back popped a couple times. Oh yeah that’s good.

 

Sleeping against trees, 0/10 would not recommend.

 

He rubbed his hand through his green hair, cringing slightly at the grease building up. He’s gone days without showering before, but it still wasn’t a pleasant feeling. His cheeks felt rough with stubble, and his beard was creeping down his neck. His clothes smelled gross, dirt and grime built up on the long sleeves of his rain coat and on his stomach from crawling around in rather unsavory places. Jack’s knees and the bottom of his pants were in the same state. His shoes were worse. They used to be a bright green. Now they’re caked in mud and stains from unknown substances.

 

Jack fingered at a couple holes that tore in his rain coat, unsure of how or when that happened. He checked his jeans, finding that the “stylish rips” were ripped slightly further but thankfully no new holes.

 

Jack watched Mark stretch, studying him as he pulled up the sleeves of the gray hoodie he had found on the plane. Man, that felt like ages ago. His clothes weren’t doing much better than Jack’s own. A dark stain was smudged on his front, and the elbows of the hoodie were almost stiff with dirt. His pants were blotched with random stains, and his gray high tops looked like he had stepped in a puddle at some point.

 

Mark looked very tired. His eyes were sunken and his red hair seemed faded. He scratched at his jawline, noting how much thicker his beard looked. He offered Jack a small smile before moving past him to the small stream of water.

 

They both got a couple more drinks from the brook before heading out. Jack proudly showed off the flashlight he was able to recover from the villagers, which Mark was very relieved about. They no longer had use of the camera’s night vision since Mark drained the rest of the battery watching those videos repeatedly. Mark had tried to look for clues, the determined man that he is, but Jack knew he wouldn’t find anything. It was set up just like their vlogs. Plain background, a chair, themselves, and that was it. No “triple enhancing” on the reflection of your irises to see the rest of the room. Those stupid CSI crime shows were very misleading.

 

The videos were… well he didn’t know what to expect, but it wasn’t that. One line repeated in Jack’s mind over and over: _Can you feel them?_ Feel what? Feel who? Something’s gotta be messing with him cause he felt… off, ever since watching that. But that could be a result of anything at this point, they’ve been through so much shit already… so he pushed that buzzing feeling in his mind away for now and focused on the task at hand.

 

Just keep walking, Cal says. Jack wasn’t convinced this was a good idea, but Mark was right...what else were they gonna do? They needed to find a way _out_ , to progress, not just exist in this digital forest. He had a feeling that Cal would make life very unfun if they chose to directly not follow his “suggestion”.

 

Jack thought about The Hunger Games, where they set off walls of fire in order to force Katniss closer to the center and fight. Cal was the gamemaker, and they were the tributes.

 

Jack cringed and pushed the thought away, no longer liking that scenario. That comparison meant one of them was going to die. No thanks.

 

He didn’t know how he felt about actually seeing the man behind the emails, who somehow convinced him to play this shady game. Jack knew he’d only stick to trusted sources from now on. He’s learned his lesson. They’d get out, they’d laugh about it, and promptly wipe the PC clean of this game’s existence. It’ll be good, they’ll get out… they have to...

 

And so, Mark and Jack continued walking. They kept their direction directly opposite of the villagers, putting as much distance between them and the crazed fanatics as possible. Which meant going up. Up the mountain, maybe to a Firewatch tower...ooh, that would be an interesting game to “play”, Jack thought. Even though the ending of Firewatch kinda sucked.

 

Jack rubbed his arms, suddenly aware of how cold it was getting.

 

“I’m cold,” Jack stated plainly.

 

“It’s gettin’ quite nippy,” Mark added in a butchered English accent, pulling his sleeves back down over his forearms before continuing on. “Don’t suppose ya got a snuggie hidden in yer bosom fer little ol’ Markimoo?”

 

Jack laughed before joining in, putting on his own obnoxious cockney accent. “Oi, stay away from me tits, alrigh’??”

 

Mark giggled hard, and Jack quickly broke character to laugh along with him. This wasn’t that funny, but when you haven’t gotten a decent night’s sleep in days things get weird.

 

“Know what I don’t get?” Jack asked after they both calmed down. “Ya feel tired n’ gross right now, right? It feels like we’ve been up fer days.” Mark nodded. “But...I’m not hungry. I don’t feel hunger.”

 

Mark thought about this revelation, his eyes going wide. He clearly didn’t even notice before. “Well...maybe it’s… huh.” Mark paused. “Think that’s a coded thing? Like he just unchecked the “hunger” stat in the settings.”

 

“Could be,” Jack shrugged, shelving that thought for now. It’s a strange sensation, knowing he hasn’t eaten anything proper since being dumped in this hell hole but not experiencing the repercussions of it. Video game logic?

 

To be honest, Jack was too distracted with the sudden temperature change. It was still sunny but the air was definitely crispier than before. Rubbing his arms again, they trudged onward.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Time passed, and Jack was honestly getting tired of these hikes they were making. It was late afternoon now. Can’t they “warp” to the next level like a normal game? Fer fooks sake…

 

After climbing up a steep incline through small trees and bushes, Mark found an old path that looked like a forestry road. Thank fuck cause Jack was also getting tired of not being able to walk normally. Following the road as their new path, they headed up.

 

They took several breaks, their feet becoming increasingly sore. Obviously Jack didn’t design his “character” with proper footwear.

 

It was almost weird when they came across some sort of grandiose wooden gate with an archway above it.

 

“What the hell…” mumbled Mark. They cautiously walked up to the structure, staring up at the old archway. It looked so normal, except for the fact that it looked utterly abandoned. It was weathered and sun bleached, and two chains dangled uselessly underneath. The gate had fallen off its hinges a long time ago, the rust corroding it apart.

 

Jack’s foot crunched on something that was most definitely not dirt. He looked down and noticed It was actually wooden board. He brushed the dirt off with his hands, then carefully flipped it over. It was a sign, and judging from the two holes at the top, this used to hang just above them before nature had other plans. It was nearly illegible. Weather and corrosion had faded and chipped away the paint this sign once had. Jack could sort of make out a few letters.

 

  A   K    OD    PI    S

 

“I can’t fuckin’ read that,” Jack murmured, dismayed. Mark walked over and furrowed his brows.

 

“Jesus, uh... something pits? Pines? Maybe?” Mark thought out loud, then chuckled. “I have no goddamn idea.”

 

Jack left the board on the ground and stood up. He eyeballed their new potential path, then glanced behind him at the road. He looked to Mark, saying, “We just gonna go fer it?”

 

“Suddenly a new direction appears that looks like progress?! Video game logic says yes!” Mark proclaimed loudly before bravely continuing on through the gate.

 

Jack rolled his eyes and chuckled bitterly to himself. “Yeh, there seems ta be quite a lot o’ _that_ going on…” He followed his overly enthusiastic friend. Normally that’s _his_ job!

 

They walked through a very unkempt trail that looked like it hadn’t been used in quite a while. But all that was forgotten when Mark turned a corner and stopped dead in his tracks, muttering a quiet “Oh.”

 

“Mark?” Jack questioned. He walked over next to him to see what he was staring at, and his eyes went wide. _Oh…_

 

He now knew what the sign he found before said.

 

In front of them was a large black metal gate, shut tightly with rusted chains and old faded strips of caution tape draped across it. Along the top in decorative letters spelled out BLACKWOOD PINES.

 

Jack’s heart tightened in his chest. He looked over to see Mark glaring at the gate.

 

“Ohhh boy!” Jack sarcastically chimed in with obvious bitterness in his voice. “Can’t wait ta play _this_ game!” His face immediately fell afterwards and hesitantly walked closer to the gate. He guessed it kind of made sense. They were on a mountain, and the trend seems to be horror games so… why wouldn’t Until Dawn be next?

 

The gate has definitely been sitting here untouched for a while. The metal was chipped, rust spots scattered all over it. Most of the caution tape had been ripped off or crumbled apart.

 

“Well let’s go find some Wendigos!” Mark suggested, moving over to the same wall you made Sam climb over in the game. Jack was taken aback by his sudden mood change.

 

“I dunno if we should,” Jack cut in, watching him carefully.

 

“Why not? You _scared?_ ” Mark teased, his smirk evident in his voice.

 

Jack squinted his eyes. “No, I just don’t wanna _die._ ” He forced a chuckle, hoping to ease some of the bite in his words. If Mark noticed, he didn’t react.

 

Jack also didn’t want to admit that Mark was sort of right. This was the obvious path, but it’s hard to justify purposefully walking into danger with your own self and not with a mouse and keyboard while you’re sitting at home and having a nice cuppa tea.

 

So Jack gave in, unable to offer any other options or a valid argument against the decision. At least it wasn’t dark yet. Or snowing. _That’s it Jack_ , he thought to himself as he carefully hoisted himself up the wall after Mark who had already climbed over to the other side. _Just focus on the positives._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My two weeks to catch up on this fic properly ended up being two weeks of hell from my roommate and me trying to find a new place to stay :/ UGH, stay away from passive aggressive petty roommates. 
> 
> ANYWAYYY... hope you enjoy this little addition! Thank you so much for your patience guys :)


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got a big one for ya! ;D

_So that’s how you’re gonna play this game, eh game!?_ Mark thought bitterly.

 

Memories of frustrated decisions, people getting dragged away by impossible beings, and a certain girl’s head getting ripped off due to his own stupidity followed by long hours of replay repeatedly flashed through Mark’s mind as he and Jack walked towards the cable car.

 

Did he _want_ to do this? No, of course not. But he knew it was all they could do, and if that meant bullheading through the game to get the fuck out of there then so be it.

 

The air was crisp, but not freezing. Thankfully they didn’t have to fight through a blizzard or trudge through snow. Technically they’ve run all over Mount Madahee before, sort of, but it felt like an entirely new landscape without snow. The sun was still high enough in the sky to shine down on the trail in front of them. Thank goodness for that, cause the lights that currently line the trail look pretty out of order.

 

“No Trespassin’,” Jack said after they walked around the curve of the path.

 

Mark, who was staring at the ground where he walked, suddenly looked up in confusion. “Huh?”

 

“The sign,” Jack added matter-of-factly. He gestured to the totem pole statue just ahead where a large metal sign with big faded red letters read NO TRESPASSING with several paragraphs of text underneath.

 

“‘Restricted area, violators will be prosecuted’, blah blah blah…” As Jack recited the warnings, Mark poked around for anything else that might help them… maybe a totem somewhere, if it wasn’t confiscated by police. “‘It is unlawful ta enter this area without strict permission, anyone caught on tha premises will receive $1000 fine, imprisonment, or both.’ Gee, that’s fuckin’ reassuring, innit?”

 

“Yeah, no kidding…” Mark then deliberately walked passed Jack and the No Trespassing sign with a dramatic swing of his arms. “Good thing I don’t give a fuuuck!”

 

“Fuck tha police!” Jack cheered, his arms up in the air as he ran after Mark.

 

They both stopped when they looked up to see the landscape. It was _gorgeous._

 

“Whoa…”

 

“Wow…”

 

The setting sun made the mountains glow in a golden light, and the sheer scale of them was incredible. Mark knew it was pretty before in the game, but in the daylight without snow was something else. The peaks had a sprinkle of snow, but the rest of the landscape was covered in evergreen trees that stretched on for miles. These mountains looked like something out of Glacier National Park.

 

Jack inhaled deeply, soaking it all in, before letting it out in a dramatic huff. “Man, tha draw distance in this game is great!”

 

It took a second to process, but the random ridiculousness of Jack’s comment caught Mark off guard and he suddenly burst out laughing like he was doing a Try Not To Laugh challenge. This reaction caught Jack off guard as well, so he joined in the giggle fest.

 

“Why tha fuck are ya laughin’!?” Jack managed to get out in between giggles.

 

“I don’t know but that was hilarious, oh my god.” Mark wiped his eyes, fighting back another laugh attack. “You’re right though, the rendering is on point!”

 

Jack rolled his eyes, smiling at his goofball friend. Mark knew it wasn’t supposed to be funny but as he’s expressed before, he’s a giggly bitch by nature.

 

They meandered over to the cable car. It, too, was cordoned off with various amounts of caution tape. The map of the mountain that had been defiled by graffiti was missing, leaving the wooden board blank and withered. It was probably taken as evidence after the teens were rescued. The station was dark with a KEEP OUT sign screwed to the door.

 

“This is so bizarre,” Mark commented, walking up to the door and trying the handle. Yep, definitely locked. He could see the car was docked inside, but there was no indication of power.

 

“What’s bizarre?”

 

Mark shrugged. “I dunno, I’m amazed that we’re experiencing these games in this...manner…” He gestured wildly with his hands, unsure how to say “this totally impossible way of being stuck inside a virtual reality video game that they don’t know how to get out of” in one word. “But, we’re not replaying the game necessarily, this is like… years later.”

 

Jack, quietly in thought, slowly walked around towards the front of the station before replying. “Kinda like in Outlast?”

 

“Exactly!”

 

“Which means we don’t know what ta expect anymore.” Jack observed, leaning over the fence to try to look inside the building.

 

Mark paused. “Is there anything to expect? Didn’t we kill all the wendigos?”

 

“I dunno, those deer were pretty savage.” Jack smirked before carefully hopping over the small fence. “ _I_ killed all tha wendigos, I dunno bout you.”

 

“I saved everyone!” Mark said defensively, following Jack to the fence. “It took me a bit, but I did it! Ashley and Chris reached their bonezone potential, thank you very much.”

 

Jack was chuckling. “Someone’s triggered.”

 

“Shut the fuck up,” Mark retaliated good naturedly, his voice unnaturally high pitched. He climbed over the fence, joining Jack at the edge of the building.

 

The mouth of the station was open, the small cable car sitting motionless inside. There were metal rails lining the outside, but it was open. The foundation sat on the edge of a steep hill where there were enough rock ledges underneath the opening that they could easily traverse to get inside.

 

Mark gestured with a flourish and a suave smile. “After you, my dear.”

 

Jack shook his head, rolling his eyes before copying the gesture. “Oh no, ladies first.”

 

Mark paused, time seemingly slowing to a crawl the two options flashed in his mind. He blinked, taken aback by the odd sensation before taking the initiative to move forward on his own. He shook his head of weird feeling he just experienced, lowering himself down to a rock that allowed him to grab the rails for stability.

 

After some careful traversing and using his sweet guns to hoist himself up and over the rail, Mark was able to help Jack by reaching for his hand to pull him up.

 

“Thanks,” Jack said with a huff once he was finally inside the station.

 

The cable car station was dark and musty with dead pine needles and leaves scattered along the floor. Dust coated the metal car, the windows fogged over from time.

 

“Anything abandoned gives me the creepies,” Mark said with hesitation in his voice.

 

Jack stopped walking to give Mark a look. “The creepies…”

 

“Yes!”

 

“Yer fuckin’ ridiculous.”

 

“But I’m not wrong!”

 

Jack chuckled. “I guess so.”

 

The operating room was still open, but it was definitely gutted. The tables were cleared and the security monitors gone. The walls were bare and the lockers were empty. The only potentially useful thing was the control panel for the cable car, but Mark didn’t get his hopes up. He uselessly poked at the buttons, knowing there was no power to respond with.

 

Mark stepped back with a sigh, unsure what to do. He glanced around the room, his eyes resting on a spot at the base of one of the lockers. A corner of a piece of paper was barely visible, like it had been dropped and completely forgotten. Mark squinted, reaching for the dusty paper and gently pulling it out.

 

Jack noticed Mark’s actions and leaned over to get a glimpse of what had caught his attention. “Whatcha find?”

 

Mark pulled it out, wiping off the front on his jeans. “It’s a brochure to the ski lodge.” A travel brochure with the words “Visit the Winter Paradise of Blackwood Pines Ski Lodge!” were faintly plastered on the front. Mark carefully opened it up, revealing a map of the mountain. “Ooh, this is handy.”

 

It was a very simple map with cartoonized pictures of the ski lodge, cable car station, the ranger station, and the sanatorium. The ski lodge and sanatorium were towards the top of the mountain with crude dotted lines that vaguely represented paths to get to each.

 

Jack scrunched up his nose at the map. “I forgot about tha sanatorium… why tha fuckin’ hell would ya A, build a sanatorium at tha top of a mountain, or B, build your ski lodge next to a fuckin’ sanatorium?!”

 

Mark chuckled. “I know man, I completely agree. I thought the same thing.”

 

“This mountain was doomed from tha start…” Jack shook his head and walked back to the mouth of the station. Mark folded up the map and stuck it in his back pocket before following.

 

The cable lines extended up the mountain over several support pulley structures to help guide the cable car. The top cable car station was just barely visible, a gray dot in the middle of green. Without the help of the cables to lead up to it, it was practically invisible. No other structures could be seen, even with the small clearing of trees further up the mountain.

 

“Well shit. How the fuck are we supposed to get up there,” Mark whined dramatically.

 

“I doubt they’ve paid tha electric bill in a while,” Jack joked bitterly.

 

Mark smirked as he was thinking, looking up at the cables. “There’s gotta be a generator or something outside...for safety reasons, yknow, in case there’s a power outage and people are on the thing.”

 

“That makes too much sense,” Jack chuckled.

 

Mark rolled his eyes. “Since it’s the trend for me to keep calling firsties on adventures, I’ll go check, stay in here. I may need you to mess with that panel.”

 

“Roger roger!” Jack said with a salute.

 

Mark carefully climbed back over the rail down to the rocks before working his way around to the back of the station. The sun was beginning to duck behind the mountains, casting the gorgeous landscape into a shadow. Mark guessed they only had a couple hours of daylight left.

 

Mark recognized the janky shooting range Chris and Sam used when they waited for the cable car to pick them up. A quick glance around confirmed there were no guns laying around anymore, much to Mark’s disappointment. Instead, he walked passed the range and eyeballed an outdoor shack attached to the main building.

 

“Okay buddy, survey says…” Mark peeked inside the dark room, noting the sizable cobwebs lining the doorway and across a ladder that was left behind. Towards the back was a large metal square box with vents and what looked like a panel box. A large cable lead from the box to the station wall. Mark smiled. “...bingo.”

 

He ran back around to the mouth of the station again, poking his head above the foundation at Jack who was studying the panel. “Hey!”

 

Jack jumped, eyes wide with fear but softened when he saw Mark. He walked out of the room. “Fer fooks sake, ya scared me.”

 

Mark laughed. “Sorry. Let me borrow your flashlight, I think I might have found it.”

 

“You found tha generator?” Jack asked, pulling it out of his pocket and handing the object to Mark through the rail.

 

“I think so. I’m gonna try to turn it on and see what happens.” Mark tested the flashlight, pleased to find it does indeed work.

 

“Be careful with that shit, those things can get dodgy,” Jack said, concerned.

 

Mark brushed off the comment by waiving his hand in the air. “I _got this,_ bro.”

 

Jack looked skeptical but let him go. Mark ran back to the shack, breathing heavily from all the unexpected cardio. He shined the flashlight inside, looking for anything as simple as an ON switch.

 

He didn’t find an ON switch, but the panel box he flipped open looked promising. Faded labels and acronyms lined different switches and buttons that made absolutely no sense to Mark. He was an engineer, not a technician!

 

The hazard labels lined along the bottom were disconcerting though. They were old, meaning this whole setup was probably old. There was a hand getting shocked in half, a fire icon, a hand looking like it was being melted alive by a surface, a dude being suffocated by fumes, and an explosion icon. Great…

 

Mark ran a hand through his hair, nervous about what to do. “What the hell, man… uhhh, okay. Okay, let’s see…” He thought out loud, breaking up the silence as he stared at the panel box full of foreign words.

 

He was sad to find that the easy ON switch was most definitely not a thing. “Fuck…” He looked around the side to find a cap labelled FUEL. _Shit, does this thing need gas…?_

 

Mark shined his light around the mostly empty shack, heart sinking when he didn’t see a gas can of any sort. For fucks sake he hoped there was some fuel left inside the thing…

 

He returned his attention to the panel, studying it again. Wait, there… a switch with an LED above it. The label was nearly completely flaked off, but he could sort of make out a capital P at the end, which probably meant STOP. It was flipped to that end currently. Hesitantly, Mark tried flipping it to the middle. The LED flashed yellow, but nothing made a sound.

 

“Okay, progress, still progress…” he mumbled to himself. He flipped it all the way to the left and nearly jumped out of his skin when the generator roared to life. It was fucking _loud._ But holy shit it was working, it was fucking _working!_

 

“Yes! Fuck yes,” Mark cheered. The panel of other buttons dimly lit up red. The switches were all flipped to the right, including one big one at the top, and Mark was very unsure what that meant but that probably meant “off”. But nothing was exploding, so that’s a good sign.

 

He thought about going to check with Jack to make sure stuff was happening, but that would waste time and he didn’t know how long this fuel would last. He could also just start flipping switches until something responds, but that might break something. Just then that weird sensation returned. Time slowed back to a crawl, the two options flashing in his brain. He rubbed his eyes with his hand, willing that sensation to stop. In fact, the longer he didn’t make a decision, the worse it got. Finally he gave in and decided to play it safe and this was a good start to get going, and making sure with Jack wasn’t a bad idea. Time returned to normal and his head cleared. He sprinted out of the shack, around the station, and poked his head back over the rails. “Jack!”

 

“Mark!” Jack ran over out of the control room, an excited look on his face. “I hear it!”

 

“I’m fucking awesome,” Mark said smugly up at Jack.

 

Jack rolled his eyes but smiled. “Don’t pat yerself on the back just yet. Nothin’ is gettin’ power in here. Ya probably need ta reroute the circuit to the station. By default tha connection is severed since this place is supposed ta get power from utilities n shit.”

 

“How do you know all this? Why didn’t I let you go, sheesh.”

 

Jack shrugged. “Livin’ in tha country meant non-reliable power, especially when it rains. Which it does all tha fuckin’ time.” Fair enough.

 

“Okay, there are a bunch of switches I can flip, I’ll ju–”

 

“NO, don’t do that!” Jack cut him off frantically. “If ya do that you’ll overload the generator and kill it. You need to do one at a time.”

 

Mark groaned in response. “Why can’t this be easy?”

 

Jack smirked at his misery. “Would ya rather me go figure it out?”

 

“Hell no! I _got_ this, bro!” Mark said, defending himself, causing Jack to roll his eyes.

 

Mark ran back to the shack, wincing at the loud engine roaring in his ears in the small space. He shined the flashlight on the panel, starting with the larger switch at the top and slowly flipping it to the middle like he did with the other. It turned yellow. So he flipped it one more time all the way to the left...but it remained yellow.

 

“Fuck, okay…” Mark mumbled. He flipped some of the smaller ones to the left, but they all stayed yellow. He know’s Jack said one at a time, and he is, but nothing seems to be happening.

 

Maybe the power still wasn’t reaching the building? Mark rested his light on the cable on the ground and followed it. It was definitely not in the best shape, and the cord itself seemed brittle and old. It reached the building, and that’s where he quickly found his problem.

 

“Fuckin, not plugged in, seriously…?” Mark sighed, picking it up and looking at the plug. It wasn’t your standard three-prong plug, it had four slanted ones that had definitely seen some better days. Mark wasn’t too enthused about plugging this into the socket but, when you have no other choice…

 

In hindsight, he should have went back and turned off those switches he flipped.

 

Mark was very unprepared for the shower of sparks and the surge of electricity running up his arm. “ _GAH! SHITFUCK!_ ” He ripped his hand away, dropping the flashlight and immediately clutched his right wrist. His fingers were numb and his thumb and pointer finger had new painful black spots, like a burn. He bit his cheek and groaned, scrunching his face in pain and tears prickling at his eyes. He should have checked for a backup cord or something, that could have been really bad for him...fuck, that could have fried the whole thing…

 

Mark’s eyes shot open and looked behind him, scared he fucked up. The roaring generator continued to run, albeit sounding a little bogged down. Mark could see the little glowing green dots on the panel, indicating a successful connection. He did it. He just hoped it was enough.

 

Mark experimentally opened and closed his right hand, it feeling foreign and tingly. He got up, making sure to grab the flashlight and jogged back over to the front of the station.

 

“ _MARK!”_

 

When he was far enough away from the loud as fuck generator, Mark could hear Jack shouting for him. He turned the corner just in time to see Jack with one leg over the rail, obviously getting ready to run after him.

 

Jack’s eyes went wide at Mark’s pained expression. “Holy fuck, are you okay!?”

 

Mark ignored the question. “Did it work?” He asked, his voice tight.

 

Jack climbed down the rails to the ground to get to Mark. “Yeh, everythin’s runnin’, but… Mark what the _fuck!”_ Jack saw Mark clutching his own wrist with the burn marks on his fingers and his jaw dropped.

 

“The cable wasn’t exactly up to code,” Mark grimaced, holding it up for Jack to see. “But if everything is working, it was worth it. Don’t worry, I’m tough.” He offered Jack a weak smile. Weak, but genuine.

 

“Fer fucks sake… I call dibbs on tha next solo adventure,” Jack grumbled, and climbed the rails so he could help pull Mark up. “You also look like ya saw a ghost, yer hair is all jacked up.”

 

Mark chuckled, imagining his hair standing on end like in old cartoons. “Well, when you get an electrical shock, shit happens.”

 

The cable car doors were open, and lights were illuminating the inside. They walked back into the control room to look at the panel.

 

“We’re gonna have to hurry,” Mark said. “I don’t know how much gas is left in that thing but I don’t think it’s much.”

 

Jack nodded. “Okay. Well, here comes tha tricky part.” He pointed at three stacked buttons on the left side of the panel. One was labelled DOORS which was lit with green, one RUN, and one STOP. “While you were gone I’ve been thinkin’ about how we’re gonna both get on that at tha same time, ‘cause I bet that once I hit this, that thing is gonna start goin’. So, gotta go fast!”

 

Mark furrowed his brows. It was like hitting the garage door button to close it and then running out the door before it shut you in. But the only consequence if you missed was having to reopen the door, not _falling and possibly dying._ “Wait, so we’re gonna _run_ for it?!”

 

“Either we both get on that thing at tha same time or we’re stuck down here.” Jack’s voice was determined. “And _we_ aren’t runnin’ for it. Yer gonna get on first ‘n I’ll run fer it.”

 

“But it ran automatically for Sam and Chris in the game,” Mark stated, confused.

 

“Yeh, with normal power. We’re runnin’ on emergency power, and I’m not takin’ any chances. So I’ll run. Besides, if yer right about tha fuel, we probably only have one shot.”

 

Mark immediately wanted to tell him hell fucking no, he’ll take care of running so Jack is for sure on the cable car. But one flex of his fingers reminded him that, if he did miss, there’s a big chance his bum arm would actually hinder him. And Jack is nimble. Mark could maybe catch him better than the other way around. Time slowed again as he deliberated, the two choices nearly glowing in his mind, refusing to leave until a choice.

 

Now Mark understood what was happening. He was making choices that will have an effect later on. Like maybe they would have gotten done faster and Jack would have been smart enough not to get burnt if he went to the generator instead of him, and they would have been halfway up the mountain by now. Mark huffed, considering to deny Jack out of need to protect his friends, but the fierceness in Jack’s eyes made him stop. Jack knew what he was doing. “Okay. I’ll pull you in, you just need to reach for my hand.” His mind cleared, and passing time returned to normal.

 

Jack nodded. Mark jogged over to the cable car and carefully got in. It creaked with his weight, but it will hold. He poked his head out, watching Jack’s every move.

 

“Ya ready?” Jack yelled.

 

Mark nodded, bracing his left hand on the handrail on the inside. “Ready!”

 

Mark watched as Jack took a deep breath, positioning himself as far away from the control panel as he could with his finger still on the button, and then…

 

He pressed it.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaaand cliffhanger! I figured I haven't done a brutal one in a while :P how're you liking the game mechanics? 
> 
> Random Fact #ILOSTCOUNT: I now know so much more about generators than I ever thought I would. I did a lot of research lol 
> 
> Roomie Situation update: Been rough, having ups and downs. Roommate got really upset about me moving out and said some mean shit. He has since apologized but it was bad, man. It only confirmed my desire to get out of here and into a new place. But right now doing okay that he's come to terms with it. Hoping to be out by the end of the month.


	26. Chapter 26

Jack stood in the doorway, waiting for Mark to get situated. “Ya ready?” he called to him.

 

Mark nodded as he positioned himself safely. “Ready!”

 

Jack took a deep breath, stretching his body as far as he could out the door in a runner’s stance while also keeping a finger on the button. He counted down mentally… _3… 2… 1…_

 

He pressed it, and his feet were already moving before he could even lift his finger off the button. Jack knew it worked, because the machinery above him clanged and groaned to life as it hoisted the cable car slowly forward, a movement it hadn’t operated in a long while.

 

Jack’s heart was hammering so fast he could hardly breathe. It was only about a three or four second sprint to the cable car, but it feels like forever when your nerves are on fire. Jack wasn’t even registering Mark’s voice as he frantically yelled at Jack to go faster. Jack dove through the rail opening, the cable car about to depart completely from the station as Jack precariously ran along the edge and launched himself towards Mark’s outstretched hand.

 

Time slowed as Jack leaped into the air, feeling like he had a split second decision to really focus on grasping Mark’s forearm into a vice grip. His right toe made contact with about a half an inch of the inside floor, giving him just enough leverage as time came rushing back to normal just in time to crash into the car and into Mark as well. Jack’s focus somehow caused him to tune out his own voice, and he just registered the strain on his vocal chords from yelling aloud as he leaped.

 

The cable car dangerously swayed to the side from the force of Jack’s weight landing so forcefully. Jack’s right shoulder instantly ached from colliding into the bench, a recipe for a gnarly bruise. Mark groaned from landing awkwardly on his back into the corner of the car, still tightly grasping Jack’s forearm in a death grip.

 

“Holy shit,” Jack breathed, his voice weak.

 

“You did it,” Mark said in disbelief. Now seemingly registering his hold on Mark’s limb and, determining he was no longer flying through the air, Jack gently let go. The cable car rose along the mountainside, slowly and a little rocky, but it was solid.

 

Jack grimaced, pushing his shoulder away from the bench. He sat back against the wall of the cable car, taking deep breaths with his eyes closed. When he was able to calm his heart, he opened his eyes and looked over at the door.

 

And that’s what you call a horrible mistake.

 

Jack’s stomach dropped to the floor, his heart jumped into his throat, and he was immediately aware of two things.

 

They were really high up, and the doors weren’t closed, therefore no safety to the potential death fall below their feet.

 

Of course the doors weren’t closed, he couldn’t have, or else he couldn’t jump inside. And they were really high up. They were skirting over the tops of trees, and the doors were right there, less than three feet from his body.

 

They were really high…

 

“Oh _Jesus fuckin’ CHRIST.”_ Jack panicked, hiding his face in his hands and turning away from the door into the seat. _Goddamnit! Not this height shit again..._

 

“Jack?” Mark asked, concerned. He pushed himself to a seated position, but the moment he moved Jack slapped his hand on his leg to make him stop moving...he really hoped Mark couldn’t feel the trembling in his hands.

 

“Don’t…don’t move…” Jack was hyper aware of every sway of the car, every bump, every rattle. Every time Mark tried to shift, Jack could feel the car shift with him. “S-sorry...we’re just really fuckin’ high up…” Not to mention this thing was rickety as fuck and Jack couldn’t help himself from imagining what would happen if the cable suddenly snapped…

 

No, best not think about that.

 

“Oh... _oh,_ shit, Jack–” Mark caught on, finally. “Okay… don’t worry, we’re gonna be fine. It’s…” Mark shifted slightly. “It’s not that much farther. We’re almost halfway already.”

 

Jack concentrated on a metal bolt that happened to be in front of his face and took deep labored breaths. But a metal bolt alone wasn’t helping ease the sudden anxiety he felt in his chest. “H-hey Mark? You should talk… like keep talking, talk about... hell, tell me a story, I don’t fuckin’ know…” Jack’s voice trailed off, unsure of what he needed, but he thinks Mark got the idea. It helped him before when Mark was talking through him climbing down that cliff face.

 

There was a pause before Mark finally spoke. “Okay, let me think… So I...Did I, uh...did I tell you about this one time Chica jumped in the pool when she didn’t know how to swim?”

 

For a moment, Jack was more worried about Chica than his current predicament. “No, ya didn’t. What happened?”

 

Mark chuckled. “The poor thing… I didn’t know she couldn’t swim. Or didn’t know how to swim yet. It was only a couple months after I got her, I was throwing the ball for her in the backyard. I tossed it in the air–”

 

The rumble of the cable car grinding over the unused pulleys on the support structure violently rattled the car and caused the dim lights inside to flicker. This made Jack’s stomach flip and grip Mark’s leg tighter. “Shit shit shit…” he mumbled under his breath.

 

“...I tossed it in the air, but the poor doof, she can’t catch things in the air well like, at all.” Mark kept talking like nothing happened, much to Jack’s gratitude. He imagined Chica jumping to catch a tennis ball and missing it entirely, hitting her in the head. Jack smirked at the thought. “She missed, it bounced, and she went to catch it again but instead hit it with her teeth.” Mark chuckled at the memory.

 

“D-did she hit it in tha pool?” Jack asked, hating how his voice shook. His voice breaks enough as it is normally, don’t throw salt in the wound... Another sway as the car rattled over the pulleys and Jack grit his teeth. The lights inside flickered again.

 

“Yeah! She hit it straight into the pool and she beelined for it. She jumped and her head went under for a second, and I didn’t think anything of it until she surfaced and started whining really bad. I had to jump in to save her, my poor Chica-bica....” Mark chuckled again. “She never got the ball.”

 

Jack smiled to himself, imagining a scared waterlogged pup paddling frantically in a pool and Mark jumping in after her like a worried dad. No wonder that blue hair never lasted. “Poor puppers…”

 

“She’s okay though,” Mark added and Jack could hear the smile in his voice. “She just gets super nervous about being in the pool.”

 

“Except when ya want ta film Boat Dog,” Jack smirked. The talking was definitely helping him ease his discomfort.

 

“ _That_ I was super impressed about,” Mark laughed. The cable car began to slow, and Jack felt Mark shift. “We’re almost there.”

 

“Thank fuckin’ God…”

 

The car slowed, and then it crawled. It crawled like there just wasn’t enough muscle power left. The lights flickered again just as the car came to a halt before going dark entirely.

 

“Um…” Mark started.

 

Jack didn’t like the sound of that.

 

“What?”

 

“Well, we’re here…”

 

“But…?”

 

“But we’re like… 95% here?” Mark said hesitantly.

 

_What?_

 

Jack looked up to see that they were sort of under a roof. He looked to the side through the foggy windows to see the mouth of a cable station identical to the one they exited. He didn’t _dare_ look behind where they came, but he could see some of it out the door, and about half of the rail outside.

 

The station up here was dark. Jack thought that backup generators would cover the entire thing, not just one end of the station. Then how would offloading or loading at the other end work? _I mean, unless I’m right and it did have power, which we had power but now we don’t, so…_

 

Jack caught Mark’s eye and looked at him intently, a silent question of _well what the flying fuck do we do now?!_

 

Mark cleared his throat, the gears in his mind obviously turning, thinking, his eyes flicking around figuring it out, like the engineer that he is.

 

For a ridiculous moment, Jack wished he did something other than study hotel management. Jack could tell you the threadcount in an average European hotel room’s bedspread, not exactly helpful in this situation.

 

“I think the generator ran out of gas.”

 

Jack cocked to his head to the side in disbelief, not exactly the puzzle-solving response he was expecting. “Well no shit, Sherlock.” Mark glowered at him.

 

Jack carefully sat back against the wall again, feeling better knowing that the ground was in a much more desired position in relation to his body.

 

They sat like that for a minute, then, “We could just stay in here.”

 

Jack looked up at Mark in confused silence.

 

“Easy shelter, off the ground so animals or bugs can’t get in easily, yeah the ground is kind of rough and cold and metallic but we could snuggle.” Mark let himself ramble on a little too fast.

 

Jack shook his head, tone serious. “I’m not sleepin’ in a metal deathtrap danglin’ in tha air.”

 

Mark nodded and shrugged. “Well, yknow, thought I’d try.” Jack smirked at him, knowing he was just nervous and tends to ramble when nervous. So he chuckled.

 

“Not that I won’t snuggle with ya, we could still do that,” Jack joked.

 

Mark forced a laugh. “Well thank god, I was most worried about that part. Priorities and shit.”

 

After careful deliberation on the best way to get out of this thing, and the decision being rushed by the setting sun teasing the darkness of night time, they chose to just try to jump for the rail. It wasn’t ideal. The cable car had stopped at a very awkward position just within reach of the foundation.

 

They thought about dropping down instead, but one look down from the cable car door made Jack instantly dizzy and he’d honestly rather risk the jump. It was still a little too high, and on a slope.

 

The rail to the station platform was just off to the side, about two or three feet away. As long as they jumped in _just_ the right way, they could make it.

 

“Ehhhh, I’m scared,” Jack whined pathetically, unashamed to admit his fear. They were both standing now, Jack ignoring the twisting anxiety his stomach was giving him.

 

“Yeah, I _really_ don’t want to do this,” Mark agreed.

 

They both hesitated. “So…” Mark started. “Who’s gonna go first?”

 

Before Jack could even form a thought, his world slowed down again. Something must have shown on Jack’s face because Mark looked suddenly concerned.

 

“Are you okay…? Jack, we can figure something else out if you don’t wan–”

 

“No, no,” Jack waved him off. His brain flashed with two choices: _Let me go first_ , and _How about you go._ The longer he waited, the more agitated his mind became. What the fuck…

 

Mark grabbed Jack’s shoulders, his face serious. “Are you fighting to make a decision right now?”

 

“Yes…”

 

Mark’s brows furrowed, swearing under his breath. “Does your head feel hella fuzzy?” Jack nodded. “How many times has this happened?”

 

“Once before.” Jack paused, hating how it felt like a bee hive was shoved inside his brain. “Mark, I–”

 

“I’ll go.”

 

The feeling stopped completely. It was unpleasant, but he could think clearly now. Jack looked up at Mark, eyes wide. “Tha fuck…?”

 

“It’s the game mechanic,” Mark explained, letting Jack’s shoulders go. “The Until Dawn choice thing.”

 

“Oh, shit, yer right…” Jack’s realization hit him hard, his hand combing through his hair in thought. Memories of carefully deliberating what actions to take and worried what might happen flashed through his brain. Just like in an effort to make Matt jump to safety off of a falling tower, you send Emily to her death...which turned out to be the best option but Jack didn’t know that at the time. “Have you felt that?”

 

“Like three times,” Mark shared. He held up his burnt hand. “The consequences are real too. I should have let you go to the generator, you’re smarter with that shit and probably wouldn’t have burned yourself.”

 

At least it wasn’t losing his fingers… Jack remembered a weird confused look coming across Mark’s face when they bantered about who should climb around the foundation first, but he never thought to ask. Did that consequently lead to Mark going to the generator…?

 

_Since it’s the trend for me to keep calling firsties on adventures, I’ll go check…_

 

This is too fucking convoluted. Jack’s brain hurt.

 

“Okay...okay, so, if this keeps happenin’ ta us, we need ta tell each other,” Jack decided. “We’re not preprogrammed video game characters, we’re free thinkin’ dudes.”

 

“Good point,” Mark commented. The cable car creaked, and Mark looked up with a concerned expression on his face. “We should get off this thing first.”

 

“Are ya sure you wanna jump first?” Jack asked hesitantly.

 

Mark nodded. “I’ll go, then I can help you in case you get stuck.”

 

“Well why couldn’t I help _you?”_ Jack asked in a sassy tone. It wasn’t needed, but Jack couldn’t help himself. Mark just rolled his eyes in response.

 

“I know you can, but one of us has to go.” Mark began sizing up the distance outside the door. It really wasn’t far, but you never know how things will play out.

 

Mark began leaning back and forth, causing the car to rock. Jack’s heart seized up. “What tha bloody fuck are ya doin’?!”

 

“Getting momentum,” Mark said calmly, focusing on his movements.

 

Suddenly without warning, Mark took a few quick steps to the door as the car reached its highest curve and pushed himself out. Jack yelped in surprise, stumbling from the force of Mark’s weight launching off the dangling metal car.

 

“Holy fuck!” shouted a surprised Mark. Jack carefully peeked out the door of the still swinging contraption to see Mark scrambling up the side of the foundation. He made it, barely, but he made it.

 

Mark stayed on the outside of the rail, looking shaken, but proud. He looked at Jack with a breathless smile and turned to face him. “I’ll grab you just like before, you just need to jump to me.”

 

Jack gulped and nodded, copying Mark’s stance and slowly rocked the car. It groaned and creaked above him, clearly not enjoying the obnoxious movements on the cable.

 

“Jack get ready to jump.”

 

Jack really didn’t want to. He situated himself to leap, still rocking the car.

 

“One…” Mark counted down in time with the cable car’s swings.

 

“Two…” Fuck, Jack really didn’t want to do this.

 

“Three!”

 

Jack’s mind went blank as he jutted forward, letting his body get thrown out of the door, pushing with all he could with his feet. It almost felt like swinging as high as you could and jumping off. Jack loved doing that, he didn’t love this.

 

Time slowed again, and now Jack understood what was happening. This was a quicktime event, and he had to act fast. He remembered before how time slowed as he focused on grabbing Mark’s arm, very similar to now. Jack didn’t think anything of it, too distracted by his fear of heights to contemplate what he was experiencing. But he made sure to do the same thing now, and focused all efforts on grabbing Mark’s hand. Once he felt the skin to skin contact, he relaxed, knowing he completed the event.

 

Until his focus quickly jumped to his feet, but before Jack realized that this was a second event, it passed and his foot missed the foundation ledge. He screamed, scrambling to grab onto the rail with his left hand but the momentum of his body cause his fingers to slip. His torso scrapped along the edge of the concrete foundation as he fell, making Jack wince.

 

 _“JACK!”_ Mark bellowed, grimacing as he kept his hold on Jack’s hand even as he fell. “Hang on!”

 

Thanks to Mark’s iron grip, Jack was able to grasp the lip of the foundation under the rail. His breath came in broken nervous gasps, reeling from what _almost_ just happened. He felt Mark lift him up slightly, enough for Jack to grab one of the bars on the railing. Soon Jack was able to inch his knee over the edge and lean his weight on it for leverage.

 

“I got it, I got it,” Jack murmured to Mark, letting go of his hand to grip the railing himself. Mark scrambled over and helped Jack get firmly on his feet before Jack finally climbed over himself.

 

“What happened?” Mark asked worriedly as Jack stumbled away from the edge. “Are you okay? I totally thought you had that.”

 

“I thought I did,” Jack winced when he could stand on his own within the safety of the railings. His legs were incredibly shaky. He lifted his shirt to examine his stinging torso. A bunch of angry red scrapes lined his stomach, some threatening to bleed. “Shit…” He dropped his shirt and squat down, not trusting his legs at the moment. “I think I experienced a quicktime event...n’ I got tha first one, but not tha second one…”

 

Jack was shaken, but he would be fine. He just needed to breathe. He looked up at Mark, who looked like a kicked puppy. Jack offered a small smile. “I’m fine, Mark.”

 

“If you fell, I don’t think you would have died but you would have seriously been hurt and I don’t know what we would have done,” Mark rambled nervously.

 

“I didn’t though. I’m fine. Don’t worry ‘bout tha what ifs,” Jack said in a calm voice. He didn’t think Mark would be so shaken. Jack would have been just as freaked out if Mark almost fell off the edge, though. He suppose it’s justified.

 

Mark took a deep breath. “You’re right, sorry…” Mark looked outside where the sky was starting to darken but the landscape in front of them was already cast in shadow. “This is gonna be a long night. Again.”

 

“Fuck, I know it will,” Jack said bitterly.

 

The door out of the station was locked, so the two had to break a window to climb out but they managed to do it. Jack’s stomach stung, and Mark was rubbing his fingers on his burnt hand.

 

“Aren’t we just a couple o’ wounded bastards,” Jack joked weakly. Mark chuckled.

 

“I can still fuck bitches up, don’t you worry,” Mark said, smirking at Jack.

They walked to the front of the station and looked down where they came from. Jack felt much better with his feet on actual earthy ground when looking down. He gave the edge a wide berth, and his stomach fluttered with butterflies, but he was okay.

 

Jack could easily tell where the lower cable station was due to the billowing smoke.

 

“Yeah, that generator is fried,” Mark lamented. “We have a long trek down if we want to go back.”

 

Jack took a moment to take in the view. It was much more impressive up here. The clouds were a gorgeous orange color, reflecting the last few moments of sunlight before it disappeared completely behind the horizon. The mountains were bunched up around a small valley of endless trees.

 

“Wow…” Mark whispered.

 

“I’d love it more under different circumstances,” muttered Jack. Yes, it was pretty, but it was hard to soak it all in when your body hurt. Jack glanced down to his stomach and noticed a couple red spots where his shirt soaked up some blood from his scrapes. He groaned in annoyance.

 

The sun officially left them, the orange clouds already appearing desaturated and dull.

 

“Let’s keep going,” Mark insisted in a low voice. Jack nodded silently.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I portrayed an accurate representation of someone with a fear of heights in that situation xP I just know how much Jack freaks out in just a video game with heights.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not dead! See end of chapter notes for more details about wtf has been going on in my life lol

It was getting colder now that the sun was gone. Not freezing cold necessarily, but there was a definite uncomfortable bite to it.

 

It didn’t take long for Jack to break out his trusty new flashlight. While the sky took its time fading away its light, the landscape around them was already cast in darkness. Mark focused on the lightened path in front of them, knowing that if he tried to look too closely into the dark trees his brain would play tricks on him. You can blame all the horror games.

 

They followed the steady incline up the mountain. Jack stumbled over a root and he huffed. “Man, Emily was right. Why does tha cabin hafta be so far away from tha car?!”

 

“Gotta work for it!” Mark sneered.

 

They passed by several signs, some pointing the way, others advertising the different ski lifts. Mark glanced at every darkened light post, knowing it was long dead but hoping for a miracle anyway.

 

They occasionally heard rustles in the bushes around them as they passed by. Mark’s logical side told him they were just mice frightened by their presence, but his heart still picked up the pace with every unexpected sound. He rubbed his arms, but whether it was because of the cold or something else he wasn’t quite sure.

 

Jack noticed his movements and smirked. “Cold?”

 

Mark smiled. “A little bit.”

 

“Yeh it feels like it’s gettin’ inta tha teens.”

 

Mark knitted his brows. “It’s not _that_ cold.”

 

Jack paused before chuckling loudly. “Sorry, teens in celsius. Not that farenheit bullshit you Americans deal with.”

 

“Bullshit?! Don’t push _your_ metric bullshit on me!” Mark teased. “I was gonna say it feels more like in the 50s.”

 

Jack burst out laughing. “Dude, that’s hot as balls!”

 

“Europeans are so weird.”

 

“At least we’re all on tha same page with, yknow, _tha rest o’ tha world.”_

 

“Hey! I didn’t choose this life!” Mark chuckled in protest. “I don’t like what you’re insinuating here, bub!”

 

“Not insinuatin’ anythin’, now go eat a cheeseburger.”

 

Mark laughed heartily and gently shoved the smug looking Irish boy. “That’s racist!”

 

The two men laughed as they hiked, the creepy mountain forest temporarily forgotten.

 

Somewhere in the distance, a creature perked its head up at the sound, a few drops of drool dangling from its snarling maw.

 

They calmed down, hiking in silence for a few minutes. Mark looked up at the landscape around them. You couldn’t see any detail in the peaks surrounding them anymore, just vague dark outlines. For a video game it’s pretty accurate to some American terrain he’s seen before. He wondered if this is all new to Jack. “What’s Ireland like?”

 

Jack glanced sideways at Mark and laughed. “Why ya askin’ that?”

 

Mark shrugged. “Conversation. Mostly ‘cause of the landscape here. Are there mountains in Ireland?”

 

Jack chuckled. “O’course we have mountains! They look more like giant green rolling hills though.” Jack glanced around them just as Mark had done, and Mark followed his gaze.

 

Mark slowed, suddenly mesmerized by the insanely starry sky above them. It was _gorgeous._ “Rolling hills, you said?” He asked, continuing to look up at their small glimpse into space.

 

Jack followed Mark’s eyes to the sky as well, a content smile on his face. “Ya. Nothin’ like these jagged monstrosities. Lots o’ green, with a few spits o’ lakes here n’ there. And castles.”

 

“Castles are cool,” Mark murmured. They eventually slowed to a stop. Mark turned around to look at the valley behind them. A waning moon dimly lit up the landscape, providing just enough light to make the outlines of trees and mountain peaks visible. The longer Mark studied the sky, the more bummed he became. He felt a mixture of wonder and excitement with disappointment. “I wish these stars were real.”

 

“Not some video game?” Jack asked quietly.

 

“Yeah. They look _awesome,_ but he couldn’t even put the fucking big dipper in. Poor attention to detail,” Mark criticized, calling Cal out specifically knowing he was listening.

 

Jack sneered. “You’re right. Missed opportu–”

 

The most inhuman scream echoed through the forest. It startled the pair so badly that Mark tripped over his own feet onto his ass and Jack dropped the flashlight after his whole body jolted from fright.

 

 _“Whatthabloodyfookwasthat?!”_ Jack whispered urgently in one breath, scrambling to pick up the fallen flashlight and shining it uselessly into the trees.

 

Mark quickly jumped back up on his feet, sending a dark glare up into the sky before focusing on what was going on in front of them. He willed his heart to calm down, the sudden anxiety making it hard to breathe.

 

“I thought we killed all tha Wendigos?!” Jack asked frantically.

 

“I wouldn’t put it past Cal to put some back in the game for shits and giggles,” Mark said darkly, trying to mask the fear in his voice.

 

“Fuckin’ asshole…” Jack murmured.

 

“Let’s keep going, there’s gotta be something up here.”

 

They didn’t have far to go. Their first indication was the ripped caution tape, which they took as a sign of confirmation instead of a sign of, y’know, caution.

 

Jack walked at a brisk pace, Mark hot on his heels. No time for stargazing now, they needed to _go._

 

After they turned a corner and ran up some wooden steps, they reached the cabin. Or...what was left of it.

 

Mark stopped dead in his tracks, his shoulders slumped. “...God _fucking_ damnit…”

 

 _No shit asshole,_ Mark thought to himself as he stared hopelessly at the remains of a cabin that blew up because _that’s what happens at the end of Until Dawn, idiot._

 

“Why did we think this was still gonna be here?” Jack asked, sounding defeated.

 

“Cause we’re dumb,” Mark groaned, actually facepalming himself.

 

A moment later, Jack’s face lit up. “Oh, oh! What about tha other cabin? Tha guest one?”

 

“You mean the one Jessica got snatched out of?” Jack nodded, and Mark mulled it over in his head. “Yeah, that could work. Do you remember what direction it’s in?”

 

Jack’s face fell. “No…”

 

Mark pursed his lips in thought and looked up at the creepy burned up cabin. Most of it had collapsed, the debri charred and blackened. Any pillars still standing were extremely weathered. It was eerie to look at. Dark, silent, but still haunting. He could tell authorities had combed through the place judging by the piles of stuff here and there that were pushed out of the way. Also more caution tape. Did they really think that the charred cabin alone wasn’t already a big warning sign to anyone walking up here? People were stupid.

 

 _I say as two goons are here gaping at the foot of it,_ Mark thought, amused.

 

A rustle in the trees broke Mark’s train of thought and making him whip his head over at the sound. Worry began to creep up in his chest but he squashed it down.

 

“We should go,” Jack spoke in a low voice.

 

“Uh yeah, I think it’s time,” Mark agreed, not wanting to stick around much longer anyway.

 

They located a path and followed it further into the mountain, hoping this was the right one. Luckily, a small metal gate with the sign “Washington’s Property KEEP OUT” on it indicated they were definitely going in the right direction. Mark quickly hoisted himself over the gate (also decorated in caution tape). Jack handed Mark the flashlight so he could climb over himself.  

 

“I’m so glad you have this thing,” Mark commented as he shone the light on the wall for Jack to see.

 

“I know right!” Jack said happily, landing next to Mark with a big grin on his face. “Fuckin’ useful, ain’t it?”

 

Mark smiled, invigorated by Jack’s enthusiasm. He decided to take responsibility of the flashlight for now and bringing it back to the path in front of them. It was a small dirt trail lined with wooden railings and darkened lights. It would have been super quaint under different circumstances… which Mark supposed was the theme of the night. This all would be grand! During the day, with no unknown creatures, and other people around.

 

Jack shivered. “Man dude, even tha woods back home weren’t this creepy.”

 

“The elevated level of danger might be part of it,” Mark smirked. “Pretty sure Wendigos aren’t roaming freely in Ireland.”

 

“You don’t know that!” Jack exclaimed. “Could be all sorts o’ monster dudes in them hills.”

 

“They’re probably all drunk,” Mark teased.

 

Jack began to protest but quickly stopped. He laughed. “If tha stereotype wasn’t so fuckin’ true I’d be offended. But yer probably right!”

 

The sound of rushing water met Mark’s ears and soon they found themselves crossing a small bridge over a stream. With the flashlight they could only see a short distance either direction. Up the stream looked ghostly. A thin layer of fog hung just above the water’s surface.

 

A white glint in the distance made Mark stop. He shined the light into the trees on the shore of the stream, curiosity overpowering fear.

 

“Do ya see somethin’?” Jack whispered, standing near him to look as well.

 

For a moment, Mark and Jack saw nothing. But just as a pair of white orbs turned to look at them, reflected brighter in the beam of the flashlight, another scream erupted through the trees giving Mark the worse case of goosebumps he’s ever had. The scream sounded much more feminine, but it didn’t seem natural. Mark, obviously startled, whipped around on impulse, suppressing the yell of fright he so badly wanted to emit. Jack was frozen, still staring at the spot Mark was looking at before.

 

“Did you see that?!” Mark breathed, fighting the urge to run. He brought the light back to the edge of the water, but the trees were empty.

 

“I did,” Jack croaked. “It’s not there anymore.”

 

“Wendigo?” Mark whispered. He wondered why the light was shaking, until he realized it was his own hand. He lowered his arm, switching the flashlight to his left hand so he could flex the jitters out of his right. “They _are_ known to mimic human voices…” Something Mark knew all too well… _goddamnit Ashley._

 

“Can we go?” Jack asked urgently, already moving along the path. Mark nodded, slowly taking his eyes off the river before hurrying to Jack’s side.

 

Mark had no idea what was going to happen, and he wasn’t exactly eager to find out.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt like that was a good spot to end it on :P Next chapter is gonna be intense! 
> 
> OKAY so, as you can see, It's been a while since I've updated. The situation with my landlords got worse, apparently I wasn't approved to leave when I thought I was, but they wouldn't return my calls or emails so I didn't know what was going on, so I was forced to stay and pay another month's rent. It's been a literal shit show, and now it sounds like they want to kick all of us out. Bro, I'm BAFFLED at their lack of communication. I'm now in a state of limbo, unsure of where the heck I'm gonna be living soon, and when I can make that happen. It's so stressful... 
> 
> Because of all this, and trying to look at houses and figure out my financial situation, it's been hard to write. It's also been really fucking hot where I am and my house doesn't have AC so I've just been melting on my own couch lol. So as of right now I can't guarantee an upload schedule. It'll be sporadic and I'll post as I finish them, so just hang tight and know that I am never giving up on this story :P it's got a special place in my heart and I love sitting down and getting super into it (I even choose it over video games sometimes, yooo)
> 
> I know it's redundant but thank you all again for your patience and enthusiasm <3 Love you!


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